Madeline
by GolfAddict
Summary: 6-year-old Madeline's mother passes away, leaving her in the care of her father that just found out she exists. That father is Tony DiNozzo. The story begins before Tony starts at NCIS and carries on through seasons 1 to 10, with Tony's daughter becoming a big part of the lives of everyone on the team as Tony goes through the struggles and triumphs of being a single parent.
1. Chapter 1 - 1999

Summary: Tony DiNozzo finds out that he has a 6 year old daughter when her mother comes to him for help because she is dying of cancer. Tony becomes a single father and this story will follow Tony and his daughter's lives together over the course of the show. See how this special girl touches the lives of all of the people on the NCIS team. The story will span from before season 1 to the current season and Madeline will grow up accordingly throughout the story.

** Chapter 1 – The Backstory - 1999**

Alison sat in the oncologist's office, frozen to her chair; unable to move after the news she had just been given. She was trying to process what she had been told, trying to come to terms with it. But the only emotion that seemed to be able to play through her head at that moment was anger. How could this happen to her? She was a single mother to a 5-year-old little girl; she couldn't die now; she wasn't ready to leave her baby girl behind; Madeline needed her, and she would need her for many years to come. She wasn't just angry about her diagnosis today, she was angry at the way her luck had been going for years now.

Alison was a young mother, only 20 years old when her daughter was born. Madeline's father didn't know that Alison was pregnant and Alison wanted to keep it that way. She didn't think he would be a good father, as he was away at College and was quite a partier when Madeline was born. She made the decision that if Madeline wanted to know her father later in life, when she could understand what had happened, the choice would be up to her. Alison was thankful that she had the help of her mother and younger sister for the first three years of Madeline's life. Her mother cut back her hours at work when Madeline was born so that she could help raise her granddaughter. Alison also had a younger sister, Laura, who was 15 when Madeline was born. Laura became a very reliable babysitter when both Alison and her mother had to work, and soon became the cool, fun aunt. The life of the four girls was complicated and often unorthodox, but they made it work, and they were a happy family for the first three years of Madeline's life.

However, things started to go south when Alison's mother started forgetting simple everyday things like what she had eaten, where she had gone and what she had done that day. Alison began to fear that she was not capable of looking after Madeline anymore as she often forgot she was there. She was soon diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and her memory began deteriorating more and more. She often forgot her granddaughters name and she required constant care. A year later Alison and Laura made the tough decision to put her in a home where she would get the care she needed and be safe. This was very hard on Alison and the stress began to take its toll on her health.

It was just before her daughters 5th birthday that Alison received the news that she had cancer. It was an aggressive form, with a poor prognosis and it had already spread, making it very tough to treat. Alison underwent chemotherapy treatments in attempt to shrink the tumors and prolong her life. Six months of treatment later, here she sat in the oncologist's office, having just been told that the cancer wasn't responding to treatment and they were out of options. The doctor told her that she would probably have three to five months left. How had her luck taken such a turn for the worse since Madeline was born? How had her life come to this? She had three to five months left with her daughter, to figure out a life for Maddy once she was gone. It was too much; this wasn't fair.

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Tony DiNozzo was a homicide detective at Baltimore PD. He had just closed up a long case and was grabbing a coffee and heading back to the station. He walked through the door and noticed a woman sitting on the bench outside the receptionist's office that looked strangely familiar. The woman looked up at him and immediately stood up and walked towards him. Tony noticed she looked very thin, and not the good kind of thin, but the sickly looking kind of thin. She was clutching onto a picture in her hand.

"Tony?" She spoke and it snapped him out of his daze.

"Yeah, that's me." Tony looked puzzled.

"I'm Alison MacDonald, you might not remember me, but we met at a frat party at Ohio State about 6 years ago and…" She didn't know how to continue. How do you tell someone you slept with a couple of times 6 years ago and haven't seen or heard from since, that he got you pregnant and now he has a 5 year old daughter? That's not just something you go and blurt out in the entranceway of a police station. Thankfully Tony spoke.

"Yes, I remember you. We went on a couple dates after that but that was all. What are you doing here?" This was starting to freak Tony out a little. Some girl he slept with back in College in Ohio tracked him down in Maryland.

"Can we sit down somewhere for a minute?" Alison asked him. Tony nodded and led her through the office to his station and pulled out the chair on the opposite side of the desk for her to sit down. Neither of them said anything for a couple of minutes; both just looking at each other and taking it all in. Tony wondering what she was doing there and Alison trying to figure out exactly what to say.

She hadn't been surprised when she started looking for Tony and found that he was a cop. He had seemed like the type of guy who would have a manly job like that, when she had met him 6 years before. She was definitely relieved to find that he wasn't a crazy drug addict or a murderer or something like that. A cop was a decent job; maybe he would be a decent father.

Finally Alison got up the courage to say what she came to say. "Tony, I don't know how else to say this other than to just say it. I have a daughter; she's 5 years old. She's yours Tony." Tony just stared at her for the longest, most awkward few minutes in either of their lives. He was in shock. He had a child; a five year old daughter, and he didn't even know it until now. Kids were something that he hadn't seriously thought about yet, other than the thought that maybe someday in the distant future he'd have them. Alison didn't know what else to say so she wordlessly reached across Tony's desk and handed him the picture she had been holding onto so tightly. It was from only about a month ago. It had been a beautiful fall day outside and her and Laura had taken Maddy to the park. The picture was taken as she came down the slide, with a giant smile on her face, her dark brown hair blowing slightly in the wind and her big beautiful green eyes showing nothing but happiness at that moment.

"Uh…what's her name?" Tony finally spoke with a cracking voice, as he took the picture from Alison's hand and focused intently on it.

"Madeline. Madeline Alyssa MacDonald. She goes by Maddy," Alison smiled at the small smile that crept onto the corner of Tony's mouth.

"It's pretty. And she's beautiful." He couldn't take his eyes off of the picture. He thought she was the cutest little girl he'd ever seen in his life. She looked exactly like her mother too; other then the green eyes of course; those were unmistakably his eyes.

"She has your eyes. I always knew her eyes were yours but now that I see them again... it's crazy how much she looks like you Tony."

"I was just thinking about how much she resembles you." His brain wasn't working properly right now. He didn't know what to say or do. He wanted to ask why she didn't tell him she was pregnant, and why she came to him now, now that Maddy is 5, but he just couldn't take his eyes off of the picture.

"I know you're probably wondering why I came to you now," she read his mind. "I didn't want to tell you when I got pregnant because I didn't think you were ready for a child, and I don't know if you're any more ready now or not but now I don't have much of a choice anymore." Those last words finally caught his attention and he looked up and took in her appearance with more detail this time. He had noticed before how thin she was. Her eyes were sunken in and he could see her collarbones and shoulder blades sticking out; she didn't have much meat on her bones at all. And she was very pale. He could see the pain and sadness in her eyes as she spoke.

"I'm sick Tony, and I'm not going to get better. I uh…don't have a lot of time left…" Her voice broke as she admitted it out loud for only the second time since she had spoken to her doctor. When she had told her sister Laura about the doctors latest tests, and that they were stopping treatment, she had barely had to say anything and Laura knew by her tone of voice and her tears that it was not good news. They had cried and held each other for a long time, both trying to come to terms with what this meant. She had not told Maddy yet about any of it; although she had a feeling Maddy knew something wasn't right. She would ask questions when Alison came home from her chemo not feeling well. Alison would always say she just had the flu but Maddy was a smart kid for 5 years old.

"My father passed away when I was a teenager," She continued, "and my mother, she has Alzheimer's; we had to put her in a home. My sister only just turned 20 and is in her first year of University. Maddy doesn't have anyone else…" She paused for a minute to compose her-self. "My sister isn't ready to take Maddy, she's in school, she doesn't have much money and I don't have much to leave her to help her out. She'll have to quit school if I leave Maddy to her, so…" She stopped talking, not knowing how to say the rest.

"You want me to take her…" Tony finished her sentence for her, knowing now why she came to see him today.

"I don't expect you to say yes, and I still have a little bit of time, so I guess what I want now is just for you to meet her and get to know her over the next couple months. I don't want to die and leave my child parentless Tony," she started to cry, "I want her to know her dad."

This was a lot for Tony to take in in a short amount of time. He couldn't help but stare at the picture of Madeline again. She was so beautiful and seemed so sweet and loving. It made him sad to think that in a few short months this child would lose her mother and everything she had come to know in her short 5 years of life. A five-year-old should never have to go through something like that. No kid should ever have to endure that much pain. Staring at the picture he already felt a slight attachment to the young girl; just seeing that she looked like him and knowing that she was his did that. He didn't think he was really ready for a child and a child definitely hadn't been in the plan for him anytime in the near future, but since when does life go according to plans? Alison was still sniffling softly across from him. Tony slowly reached across the desk and grabbed a hold of Alison's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I'd like to know her too."

Please Review! I have the timeline written out for the entire story already, but I want to know if you like the idea before I write more chapters. Next chapter Tony gets to meet his daughter.


	2. Chapter 2 - 1999

**Chapter 2 – Backstory Part 2 – 1999**

Tony sat at his desk in the police department on a late October Friday afternoon staring at the photograph of his daughter that he had asked Alison if he could keep. He was supposed to be filling out a case report but he just couldn't seem to focus. Alison had given Tony a week to process the large amount of information he learned when she visited him to tell him about their daughter the previous week. She had also told him that it was up to him if he wanted to meet Madeline and if he changed his mind just to tell her. He definitely hadn't changed his mind and tonight was the night he would meet his daughter for the first time. Alison and her sister Laura had taken Maddy out of school for the day and were currently making the 6-hour trek from Columbus, OH to Baltimore, MD. The plan was for them to arrive around 4:00, check into their hotel, and relax for a little bit before meeting Tony for dinner.

Tony was first to arrive at the restaurant and waited patiently for Alison to arrive with Madeline. He was getting nervous the longer he sat there, so many thoughts running through his head. _What if she doesn't like me? What if she's mad at me for not being in her life sooner? What if she doesn't want me for a father? Let's face it; I can't see myself being a good father._ It was all so much to take in, but every time he worried about it or got nervous over the past week he would think of the photo of his beautiful little girl, smiling on that slide and it would reassure him that everything would be okay. He could do this. Tony became so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice that the three of them had arrived and were standing in front of him on the other side of the table. Alison had to speak to get his attention.

"Tony…"

"Oh, hey! Sorry I was daydreaming I guess," he said as he stood up.

"This is my sister Laura," Tony reached across the table and shook her hand, "and this is Madeline," she gestured to the young girl. Tony was surprised when Madeline stuck out her hand for Tony to shake just as he had shaken her aunts hand.

"I'm Madeline, but you can call me Maddy, mommy's really the only one that calls me Madeline." Tony chuckled.

"Well hello Maddy, I'm Tony and I'm your…uh…your mommy's friend," he didn't know if Alison had told her yet who he was and didn't want to say it if she wasn't ready yet.

"Madeline you remember what I told you on the way here right?" Alison asked her daughter.

"Yup, you said I got to miss school today cause' we were coming on a trip to visit your friend Tony for the weekend and we were gonna get to stay in a hotel and do fun things," the 5-year-old repeated her mothers words from earlier that day almost word for word. That answered his question; he was just her mother's friend for now.

"That sure sounds like a plan to me," Tony said as he pulled out Maddy's chair for her to sit down then pushed her in once she was settled. "There ya go kiddo." Maddy giggled. So far so good, Tony thought to himself.

Everyone was fairly silent as they read the menus and picked out what they wanted to eat and drink. Once they ordered Tony turned to Maddy and began asking her all sorts of questions, trying to get to know her.

"So Maddy, your mom told me you're five, does that mean you're in kindergarten?" He asked the girl, even though he already knew the answer.

"Yes, I started school this year. I go to Greenhills elementary school and my teacher is Mrs. Mason," she answered him excitedly. This kid sure wasn't shy; definitely a similar trait the two of them shared.

"What sort of stuff do you like to do Maddy, for fun when you don't have school?"

"Um…" She was thinking very hard about how to answer Tony.

"Do you like to play outside and run around? Do you like to draw and color? Do you like to play dolls? Do you like movies?" Tony asked her, trying to get an idea for the type of kid she was.

"I mostly like to play outside at the park or in the yard. I really like to play soccer; mommy let me play on a team this summer and I scored 8 goals!" Maddy held up four fingers on each hand to show Tony just how many goals that was.

"Wow! That's impressive. Maybe I can watch you play soccer next summer." Tony acted extra excited for her.

"I asked mommy if I could play hockey this winter, since there's no soccer in winter but she said not this year cause' I'm still too little, but maybe next year I can." Hockey too, Tony thought. Although she was all dressed up in an adorable purple dress, with her hair done in braids, she sure didn't sound like she was a real girly girl, much to Tony's excitement.

"What about when you have to stay inside Maddy, what do you like doing then?"

"I usually just watch movies, especially when mommy's sick cause' she likes to cuddle and watch movies with me. We have a lot of movies." This just keeps getting better Tony thought, sports and movies, she really is my kid. Tony continued to ask her questions all through dinner, which she happily answered. He learned that her favorite movies were Air Bud and Toy Story, her favorite color was dark purple and she hated pink, her favorite animal to have as a pet was a dog but she liked cats too and her favorite wild animal was penguins. He also learned that she was already able to read and she had lots of friends at school, most of which sounded like they were boys.

Alison and Laura stayed fairly quiet the entire dinner, allowing Tony to learn all about Maddy, occasionally adding details to Maddy's stories and reminding her to tell Tony things she forgot about. Once they were all finished dinner and it was paid for, by Tony of course, they got their jackets and headed out to their cars.

"Say goodnight to Tony Maddy," Laura encouraged. Maddy said bye and waved and Tony promised her that they would all do something fun together tomorrow but it was a surprise. Laura buckled Maddy in while Alison hung back to talk to Tony.

"She sure isn't shy is she," Tony pointed out as he smiled.

"Nope, loves to talk, she does. A lot like you if I remember correctly Tony."

"She's definitely going to be a handful when she's a teenager, that's for sure. With those eyes, that smile and that personality; it's going to be tough keeping the boys away from her," Tony laughed but quickly stopped when he realized that was the first time any of them had mentioned the future all night and it was making Alison sad. How could it not? When he spoke of his future with her daughter, knowing that she wouldn't be around to see that for herself, made her very upset. "I'm sorry Alison, I didn't mean…" But Tony really didn't know if there was anything he could say to make this any less hard for her. They said goodnight and made plans for the next day and Tony watched as Alison got in the car with Laura and Maddy and drove off, towards their hotel.

The next day, Tony showed up at the girls' hotel and took them out for breakfast. Over breakfast Laura and Alison asked Tony questions about himself and the things he liked so that Maddy could learn more about him. She was excited to find out that he loved movies just like her and had a huge collection that he promised to show her sometime. At the end of breakfast he told Maddy that he was taking them to the Baltimore Aquarium that day. Maddy was very excited after learning that the aquarium had lots of different types of penguins.

At the aquarium the three adults could barely keep up with Maddy as she ran from window to window looking at all the penguins, fish, turtles, snakes, birds, frogs, crocodiles and even sharks and dolphins. She sure was a ball of energy. They were nearing the end of the exhibit when Maddy started to tire out from all the excitement. She started dragging her feet and lagging behind her mom, aunt and Tony.

"Mommy, I'm tired, will you carry me?" She whined to Alison, who was too small, sick and frail to pick up her daughter.

"I'm sorry baby, you're too heavy for me, you've been growing like a weed lately," Alison felt bad but she was just too weak right now to carry her.

"Okay," Maddy looked down to the floor with sad eyes and continued to drag her feet.

"C'mere Maddy," Tony spoke in a soft, caring voice, "I'll carry you, how about on my shoulders?" Maddy's eyes lit up as she ran over to him and climbed up on his shoulders when he bent down. Tony smiled as she wrapped her legs around him and held on to the top of his head. This girl of his already had him wrapped around her little finger and he'd only known her for two days. Two days and he already knew that there wasn't anything in the world he wouldn't do for her; he'd always do his best to keep her safe, healthy and happy.

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A couple months later, Maddy and Alison had visited Tony four times now for a weekend at a time. The second time they came Tony insisted that they stay with him at his place instead of in a hotel and they'd never gone back to a hotel since. Tony loved having them visit. The three of them would go out and do fun things like sightsee, go to the park and play and go out for meals when Alison was feeling up to it. When she wasn't, they were just as happy to stay at Tony's apartment, cuddle up on the couch and watch movies all day. Tony would make them nice homemade healthy meals and treats. He learned more and more about his daughter every time she visited. Tony and Alison had talked a few weeks back and Alison had gotten her Will changed so that Tony became Maddy's guardian when she died. Tony also signed the father side of Maddy's birth certificate, which had originally been left blank. He was now legally her father, although she did not know it yet.

It was now two weeks before Christmas and Maddy had about a week of school left before her holidays would start. Tony had been thinking a lot lately about something so he called Alison to ask her a serious question.

"Hello?"

"Hi Alison, it's Tony. Look, I know we haven't really talked about this yet but I've been thinking about it a lot since the last time you visited, and I think now is the best time, Maddy can go to her new school after Christmas, and every time I see you, you look worse and I'm concerned…" He trailed off after his rambling.

"What is it Tony?"

"Alison I think you and Maddy should move here, move in with me, before Christmas." Tony was met with silence on the other end of the line for a moment.

"You're right Tony. I've been trying to hide the fact that I'm getting sicker so that I don't have to face it, but the truth is it has been almost three months since the doctor told me I'd probably have about three to five months left. I think now is the best time for me to move Maddy in with you too."

"Great!" He replied, already thinking about cleaning out the spare room in his apartment for his daughter.

"You know she asked me about her father last week Tony, how come all the kids at school have mommy's and daddy's but she only has a mommy."

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her that I couldn't explain it right now but I promised she would understand very soon. I want you to be there to tell her with me Tony. She's become very attached to you; she's going to be very excited when she finds out. I think she probably already suspects something; she's very smart. She seemed to accept my explanation for now though."

"We will tell her as soon as you get here, okay?" He smiled at the prospect.

A week and a half later all of Maddy and Alison's things had been moved into Tony's small apartment. Tony had gone out and bought Maddy a double bed for her room, so that for now her mother could sleep in there with her. They were planning on decorating the room together after Christmas. Since they were all exhausted from unpacking, Tony ordered a pizza and they sat around the living room coffee table watching a movie and eating their pizza. After they finished eating Tony paused the movie and asked Maddy to come sit between him and Alison on the couch.

"I have an early Christmas gift for you." Maddy's face lit up in excitement at the words Christmas gift. He handed her the gift and she quickly tore it open. Inside the wrapping was a picture frame with a photo of Maddy riding on Tony's shoulders from the day at the aquarium in it. The frame itself was unique, with writing on the top and bottom. Alison looked at Tony from the other end of the couch with tears in her eyes and a giant smile on her face and nodded her head. Tony smiled.

Maddy had been focused on the picture at first and hadn't noticed the writing around the edge of the frame. When she noticed the writing she realized it said "Your Daddy Loves You." She took a few seconds to understand what this meant and then turned to look up at Tony. The 5-year-old noticed that he was smiling at her. She turned to her mother who was also smiling but had tears in her eyes. Maddy turned back to Tony, "Tony, are you my dad?" Her voice was timid, as though she wasn't sure.

"Yeah kiddo, I am." Maddy threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

"I knew you were, I knew it!" She shouted. "I'm just like you and we kept visiting you and then we moved here; I knew you were him!" Tony laughed and hugged her back real tight, never wanting to let her out of his arms. He reached around and pulled Alison into the hug too. She was so thankful that she had found her daughter's father. She knew then that when she was gone her daughter would always be loved, safe and cared for.

The three of them lay back on the couch, Tony and Alison with Maddy in between them, cuddling them both, and continued to watch the movie, just like a family should be. Tony soon stopped paying attention to the movie and became lost in thought as he gazed down at the beautiful little girl cuddled on his lap. He was extremely happy with the way everything worked out but he was also sad that this moment right here wouldn't last. He was scared for what the future would bring. Tony was terrified of raising a daughter on his own but he also knew he'd figure it out along the way and him and Maddy would be okay.

Christmas came a few days later and Tony was so happy to be spending his first Christmas with his daughter this year. But despite how happy that made him, it also made him sad to think that although this was his first Christmas with her, this was going to be Maddy's last Christmas with her mother. They would cherish every minute that Alison had left with them.


	3. Chapter 3 - 2000

**Chapter 3 – 2000**

Tony sat in his car in the parking lot of his daughter's elementary school on Friday afternoon, waiting for the bell to ring. Maddy had started at her new school in Baltimore after the Christmas holidays and was doing well so far. She was nervous her first day and missed her school back home in Columbus, but she was such an outgoing little girl that within a few hours she had already made friends and forgot all about her old school.

The holidays had been great for all of them. They had had lots of time to get Alison and Maddy settled in Tony's apartment over the break and Tony had even been able to take a full week off to spend some time with his little girl and her mom. They spent a lot of time watching movies and playing with the toys that Maddy had gotten for Christmas. Maddy's favorite gift had been her first pair of hockey skates that Tony had bought her. Christmas day he took her to the ice rink and taught her how to skate so that she could practice this winter and would be ready to play hockey next year. Turns out that she was a natural skater; and Tony figured she was probably just a natural athlete overall, something that she got from him. Alison's sister Laura had come to visit for a few days and Tony even cooked a big turkey dinner for the four of them for Christmas day dinner; something he had never done before. It seemed like everything he did lately was all new to him, but he wasn't complaining; so far he loved being Maddy's dad. She was so full of love, happiness and energy that it was hard not to be happy around her. He found himself exhausted every night after spending his days trying to keep up with her.

Unfortunately, things couldn't stay that perfect. Alison was getting worse and worse every day. She had a hard time eating much anymore and she was weak and thin. She was so tired that she spent almost all day every day sleeping just so she could have the energy to spend a few hours with her daughter in the evenings after she came home from school. Tony and Alison both knew that she didn't have much longer, a thought that hung like a dark cloud over both of them.

Tony was slowly learning how to look after his daughter so that it wouldn't be so hard when he became a single parent. From the start he had loved her and knew that he'd be able to protect her and make her happy. However he quickly learned that there was more to parenting then just playing with her and loving her. Alison taught him the major things like cooking for her and making sure she ate healthy, giving her a bath, establishing a routine and sticking to a good bedtime, making her lunch in the evenings and getting her clothes ready for the next day. She wanted to make sure that Tony was prepared to handle the girl on his own once she was gone. So far he was doing pretty good.

Tony was snapped from his thoughts by the ringing of the school bell. It was nearing the end of January so kids came running out of the school wearing warm jackets, hats and mitts. He spotted Maddy and stepped out of the car so that he could open her door for her and buckle her into her booster seat.

"Daddy!" Maddy ran to her dad and jumped in his waiting arms and he picked her up.

"Hey kiddo how was your day?" Tony asked his daughter as he put her in her seat and buckled her in.

"Good! I got to choose the game in gym class today because my birthday is next week and it's the next one in the class!" She excitedly told him. She was turning 6 years old in a few short days and she was very excited. She didn't want to have a party this year, instead she had asked if her dad would take her skating and then out for pizza. Tony was happy to grant her that birthday wish.

"And what did you pick?"

"Dodge-ball! Have you ever played it daddy?"

"I have sweet heart, your daddy was the king of dodge-ball way back when," he told her. Maddy loved when her dad told her stories about when he was a kid.

They continued to chat about Maddy's day and her upcoming birthday the whole way home, with Maddy doing most of the talking. They pulled into the parking lot of Tony's building and got out, Maddy's energy level evident when she ran ahead of him to the front door of the building. They walked in and up the 3 flights of stairs to their floor.

"Maddy remember to be very quiet in case mommy's sleeping right now okay?" Tony reminded his daughter as he unlocked the front door.

"I know daddy, you tell me every day, mommy needs lots of sleep cause she doesn't feel well," Tony patted his daughters head at her answer and they walked in the door. As Tony expected Alison was not in the living room or the kitchen, meaning she was probably asleep in her and Maddy's bedroom. Maddy took off her jacket and hung it up like she was supposed to and then took her backpack into the kitchen to put away her lunchbox, while her dad went to check on her mom.

Tony knocked gently on the closed bedroom door and heard a funny sound coming from in the room. His heart rate sped up as he opened the door. Alison was sitting up in bed, clutching her throat and struggling to take short wheezy breaths as tears streamed down her face. "Tonyy," she struggled to say his name.

Tony ran to her side and pulled out his cell phone, quickly dialing 911. The dispatcher told him that the ambulance would only be five minutes. He tried to help her focus on taking deep breaths while they waited but she was panicking and it was making matters worse. Her face was turning slightly blue as she continued to gasp for air. Tony hoped that Maddy wouldn't hear them and would stay in the kitchen until the paramedics arrived. He didn't want her to see her mother like this; it would be terrifying for the child. It was terrifying for him!

Maddy unpacked her lunch box and was getting herself a juice box when she heard noise coming from her room and wandered down the hallway.

"C'mon Alison, deep breaths, just like this," he tried to take deep breaths with her. Alison was trying but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get enough air and she was extremely dizzy and light-headed. Tony watched her, feeling helpless, and then suddenly she collapsed back on the bed and stopped breathing. "Alison!" Tony shouted and shook her, trying to get her to keep breathing.

He felt for a pulse; she had one but it was faint. He started rescue breathing. Just then Maddy walked into the room to find her mother lying on the bed and her fathers ear to her mouth, listening for breath sounds. She didn't understand what was happening but she knew something was very wrong so she started to cry, "Mommy!" Tony looked up to see his daughter standing in the doorway scared and crying.

"Maddy, something is wrong with your mom, she's going to be okay but I need you to be a big girl and go let the Paramedics in okay sweetie?" He didn't want her to see any of this. "Please go and let them in so that they can help mommy." She did as she was told and opened the door just as the Paramedics were coming up the stairs.

Before Tony knew what was happening the EMTs were in Maddy's room taking over for him to try and get Alison to breathe. Tony backed away to give them room to work on her and get her on the stretcher so that they could get her to the hospital. He found his daughter in the hallway and picked her up in his arms. "Daddy!" She cried into his shoulder and clung to his shirt as he carried her over to the couch and sat down with Maddy on his lap. The paramedics came out of the room a few seconds later and told Tony he should follow them to the hospital. He seemed to have lost the ability to speak and just nodded his head as he grabbed his and Maddy's jackets and the car keys and followed them down the stairs.

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Tony and Maddy had been sitting in the ER for over an hour waiting for a doctor to give them any news about Alison. Tony held Maddy in his lap, her head rested against his chest. He was stroking her hair and whispering to her that it was going to be okay. This seemed to help calm her down slightly, although she was still crying softly. Truthfully he knew everything wasn't going to be okay. Alison was terminally ill; he knew they'd have to face this at some point.

_You can't die yet Alison; I'm not ready to raise her on my own. What if I can't do all the hard parent stuff and I mess up our daughter? She needs you here; she needs a mother and a father. We're not ready for this yet. _

"Mr. DiNozzo?" Tony snapped out of his thoughts and looked up.

"That's me." He stood up and put Maddy back down on the chair. "Sweetie, stay here while daddy talks to the doctor okay." He kissed her head and made he way over to the doctor.

"Ms. MacDonald is stable for now. Her lung collapsed and caused her breathing problems. We were able to re-inflate the lung but due to the large amount of cancerous tissue in both her lungs and the lack of healthy lung tissue, this will happen again in the near future. She's breathing on her own right now with just an oxygen mask. Normally, if this were to happen again we would have to put her on a ventilator, but Ms. MacDonald is terminally ill and has made it clear that she doesn't want any extraordinary measures taken to prolong her life." Tony was silent, trying to make sense of everything. "Sir, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but it is likely that she only has a few hours left."

Tony didn't know what to do or say, there were so many thoughts bouncing around in his head. Part of him wanted to turn and run out the doors of the hospital and never look back and pretend like this was all a bad dream. He looked back at Maddy's terrified little face sitting in the chair in the waiting room and he knew he would never be able to do that. He could never leave her behind and forget about her. He loved her and she was his responsibility now. The doctor squeezed his shoulder. "Again, I'm so sorry. You can see her now sir."

"Thank you," Tony managed to get out. He turned around and picked Maddy up and carried her down the hall to her mother's hospital room, trying to mentally prepare himself for what was happening.

NCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS NCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS NCISNCIS

It was 10:00pm and Tony sat in the chair beside Alison's bed. Maddy was curled up in the bed with her mother, fast asleep. When they were first allowed to see her around 6:00, Tony had let Alison have some time alone with their daughter to say goodbye. He walked aimlessly around the hospital thinking about everything for over an hour. When he got back to the room he found them both asleep, cuddling each other. He couldn't believe this was the last chance Maddy was ever going to get to be held by her mother. It made him so sad to think about. His heart broke for his baby girl and for himself. It had only been a few months since he'd found out he had a family and now it was being destroyed.

As he continued to think about this, Alison began to move beside him and he grabbed her free hand to let her know he was there. "Tony?"

"I'm right here." She opened her eyes and turned her head so she could see him in the dark room. They both said nothing for a few minutes.

"I want you to change her last name to yours…" Tony started to protest but she stopped him. "No, just listen to me. She's yours now Tony, I want her to have your name, she should've had it from the start anyways. You're amazing with her you know; you're a wonderful dad." They smiled. Hearing her say that meant so much to him with all of the doubts he'd been having about his ability to raise Maddy on his own now.

"I used to be afraid of dying… of leaving her behind. But now that we've spent the past few months with you… I know that I'm leaving her in good hands. I know that she'll be loved as much as I would've loved her if things were different. I know you'll always protect her and do whatever you can to keep her happy and healthy and safe." She was crying now but also smiling at the same time. "I'm ready to die now Tony…knowing that she has you to always be there for her…I can let go." Tears formed in Tony's eyes, threatening to spill out.

"Thank you Alison, thank you…for her…for believing I can do this…for everything… just thank you."

Alison started taking ragged breaths and suddenly the monitors started beeping, waking Maddy up. A nurse came in and shut the monitors off. Tony watched as Alison used all her strength to reach for Madeline, who was now sitting up, looking afraid. Alison put her hands on either side of Maddy's face and tilted her chin up so that she could look into her eyes. "You know I love you right baby, and I'll always love you. Never forget that." Alison struggled to choke out those last words and then she turned to look at Tony. He knew what she wanted. She was silently asking him to take Maddy from the room, to spare her watching her mother die. Tony told Maddy to tell her mother she loved her. Maddy obeyed and gave her one last hug and then Tony picked her up and carried her from the room. From then on Tony didn't look back. He was armed with the strength Alison had given him with her last words to him. "Knowing that she has you to always be there for her." Alison was gone now. Tony DiNozzo was a single father. It was just him and his little girl that he knew he would always be there for.

**Ok, I know that was really sad, but we knew it was coming. There will be more happy stuff soon. Review please!**


	4. Chapter 4 - 2000

**Chapter 4 – 2000 **

It was 6:30 in the morning when Tony's alarm went off on his first day back to work. He turned on the light beside his bed and allowed his eyes to adjust before turning to look at the other side of the bed where his little girl was still asleep, apparently having not been bothered by the alarm. She hadn't spent a full night in her own bed since Alison passed away.

A week and a half had passed since Alison's death. Tony had taken some time off of work to be with Maddy and also to arrange for Alison's funeral. Laura, Alison's sister arrived from school in Ohio the day after her death and was very upset that she wasn't able to make it there in time to say goodbye to her sister. They had been very close and although she was trying to stay strong for Maddy's sake Alison's death was taking a toll on her. Laura stayed with them for a week after the funeral but had to return to Ohio so she didn't miss any more school. It killed her to leave Maddy, who wasn't taking the loss of her mother well at all.

Tony and Laura unfortunately had to have the difficult conversation with Maddy about death and where her mom had gone. They tried to explain death as literally as possible and help Maddy understand as best they could.

"Maddy, mommy was sick, like when you get sick only much worse and her sickness couldn't go away like it does when you get sick," Tony had explained, "and she got so sick that her body just couldn't work anymore and she died. She didn't want to leave you but her body just couldn't fight the sickness anymore." She seemed to get it at first, just nodding her head and wanting to be held by her aunt and her dad all the time. It became evident in a few days however that the concept of death had not sunk in yet, as she kept asking when her mom was coming home. Laura and Tony both tried multiple different ways of explaining it to her; telling her it was okay to cry and be sad because she won't get to see her mom again. Maddy had resorted to barely speaking at all and would not leave either her dad or aunts side. Tony was starting to worry that the behavior wasn't healthy but he figured he'd give her a little more time. After all, her life had changed so dramatically in the past 5 months.

Laura had left two days ago and today was the day Maddy was supposed to go back to school and Tony back to work. Tony had found her a sitter for after school, now that she didn't have Alison to come home to, and he would pick her up there when he got off work.

He sat on the edge of his bed, watching Maddy sleep and worrying about the effect everything was having on her. She had been sleeping in his bed with him since Alison died. The first night when they got home from the hospital she had fallen asleep with him by accident while they were lying in his bed cuddling and he didn't have the heart to move her. The following night when Laura arrived she said she didn't mind sleeping on the couch so Tony had tried to put Maddy to sleep in her own bed. This resulted in a lot of crying and Tony finally taking her back to his room with him. Every night they tried again and every night it was the same result. Tony had a hunch that it might have something to do with the fact that she had shared that bed with her mother for the past few months and now Alison was gone and she was expected to sleep alone. Either way it worried him.

Tony decided to let her sleep a little longer while he showered, got dressed and made coffee. When it was time for her to get up he went around and sat on her side of the bed, running the back of his hand along her cheek, trying to wake her up gently. When she woke up, telling her she had to get ready for school caused a protest.

By the time he finally got her fed and dressed and in his car she was already late for school. Tony had adjusted his hours at work so that he could drop her off at school himself every day and she wouldn't have to go to the sitters before and after school. He figured he should probably let someone in the office know that she was back at school now, so they stopped in there first when they got to her school. The teachers and office staff were aware of the entire situation and were being very understanding.

Tony kept checking his watch as he talked with the principal about how Maddy was doing. "Mr. DiNozzo I can take her to class if you have somewhere to be," the principal told him.

"I'm late for work, not good on my first day back, I'd appreciate that if you don't mind."

"Of course."

Tony bent down to look Maddy in the eye. She had been standing quietly beside him clutching his hand the whole time. "Okay sweetheart, I've gotta go to work and you get to go to class and see your friends," hoping this would make her smile, but she just squeezed his hand tighter and shook her head.

"Maddy I know you don't want me to go but I have to."

"NO!" She started to cry and put her little arms around his neck. Great, now she's making a scene in the middle of the office, he thought. Her hugged her for a second and then pried her hands from around his neck.

"I'm sorry but you're gonna have to be a big girl and go to your class so daddy can go to work. I'll see you tonight. Ashley's going to pick you up after school and take you to her house and play with you for a few hours before I pick you up okay?" Ashley was the sitter he had found that Maddy had met a few days ago. She was a senior at the neighboring high school and had been looking after kids after school since her freshman year.

"NO!" She cried again.

"How bout' we get pizza for supper when I pick you up?" He tried again to cheer her up but she just kept crying.

The principal was watching the whole thing and stepped in, "Mr. DiNozzo you can go, she'll be fine once she gets to class and sees all her friends playing."

It broke his heart but he didn't have a choice. Tony pulled her off of him again, kissed her on the head, told her he loved her and left the office. It nearly killed him to walk down the hall and out the front doors, hearing his daughter crying the whole way, but what else could he do? She wasn't at all like this before Alison passed away and she was going to have to get over her separation anxiety.

It was a slow day in the Baltimore homicide department, which Tony was extremely thankful for. He was too distracted to get much done today and he knew he wouldn't be on his game if they had to investigate a crime scene today. He sat at his desk and watched the clock, as time seemed to be basically at a stand still. Tony's partner Danny kept watching him. He knew everything that had happened over the last 5 months and was concerned about his friend/partner. He wanted to invite him out for a beer or two after work to relieve some stress like they often did after tough cases, but now that he had a 6-year-old daughter he didn't think Tony would be able to do that much anymore. He figured it wouldn't hurt to ask though.

Danny crumpled up a piece of paper and tossed it at his partner at the desk across from him, hitting him in the head. "Hey!" Tony snapped out of his trance.

"You've been staring at the clock all day."

"Yeah." He sighed.

"Want to tell me what's wrong?" Tony shrugged.

"Alright, how bout a beer after our shift?"

"Can't, promised Maddy we'd get pizza tonight."

"Just one beer Tony, she can stay at the sitters for an extra half hour."

"Not tonight Danny," Tony snapped. Danny knew better than to push him. When it came to emotion Tony was a private guy. He could brag about women and talk about his sexual encounters endlessly but when there were actual feelings involved he didn't say much.

They did paper work in silence the rest of the day. The second the clock hit 5pm Tony had his jacket on and was out the door. When he arrived at Ashley's place Maddy was sitting on the couch watching a TV show. "She hasn't moved since 3 o'clock," Ashley informed him.

"Maddy, c'mon! Let's go get some pizza," he told her trying to excite her. She walked over to him silently, put on her coat and shoes and grabbed his hand as they walked out to his car. Tony drove to the pizza shop and picked up their pizza then drove home. Maddy stayed silent the whole time; in fact she stayed silent the rest of the night. Tony thought she was probably mad at him for leaving her at school today when she was crying. However when it came time for bed it was the same as it had been every other night. Tony tried to tuck her into her bed and she started crying. Usually Tony would try and convince her to stay in her bed, telling her it was okay to sleep by herself, but tonight he was just too exhausted to argue with her so he gave up with a sigh and carried her to his room with him.

The rest of the week continued on in a similar fashion. Maddy would protest when he dropped her off at school and it broke his heart to leave her when she was so sad, then he'd pick her up at Ashley's after school and she would barely talk all night until it was time for bed and she would cry and scream when he tried to put her in her own bed. Tony was getting so frustrated that things weren't getting better. He didn't know what to do anymore. How was he supposed to help her if she wouldn't talk to him about what was going on in her little head?

Finally it was Friday evening and Tony walked up the steps to Ashley's front door, 2 hours later than usual. Ashley came outside before Tony had a chance to knock on the door.

"I know I'm late Ashley, I'm sorry, had to stay and finish some work," he lied. He had finally taken Danny up on his offer for a beer after work, needing to relieve some stress; only this time the stress wasn't work stress but the stress his daughter was causing him. "A beer" had turned into four and before he knew it, it was after 7pm and Ashley was calling him wondering when he was picking Maddy up.

"It's alright. I just wanted to tell you what her teacher told me when I picked her up today. She still isn't talking at school and today she pushed a boy. Apparently he asked her about her picture and she got mad and pushed him. That's what the teacher said anyways; Maddy wouldn't tell me what happened." Tony sighed; he didn't know what to do. He was a new parent to a kid who just lost her mother and it was overwhelming. "The teacher and the principal want you to call and set up a meeting with them to talk about it." He sighed again; didn't they understand he was doing his best here?

"Alright, thanks Ashley." He went inside and got Maddy and her backpack and they started driving home.

Tony drove in silence for a few minutes and then he decided to ask his daughter about the situation at school today. "Sweetheart Ashley told me you got in a little trouble at school today…" They were at a red light and he turned to look Maddy in the back seat. She looked away from him, out the window, and shrugged. "Maddy please tell me what happened."

"Are you going to get mad at me daddy?" That was the most the kid had said to him all week.

"I won't get mad, I just want to know what happened so we can talk about it." She didn't say anything. "Madeline I'm worried about you." Tony's use of her full name got her attention. The only time he'd ever called her that was when they first met and he didn't know that she liked to be called Maddy. That must mean he's serious, she thought.

"I pushed Aiden and he tripped on a chair and fell and got hurt."

"Why did you push him? Isn't Aiden your friend?"

"I didn't mean for him to get hurt dad."

"I know you didn't Maddy but that isn't what I asked you. Why did you push him?"

"Cause' he made me mad," Maddy pouted and crossed her arms in defiance of answering any more questions. Tony pulled into the parking spot in front of their building. He decided to let it go for now and ask her about it again later.

Tony decided that since it was Friday night and it was already late to be cooking a big dinner that he'd whip up some quick nachos and see if Maddy wanted to pick out a movie for them to watch. She chose "The Mighty Ducks". Maddy sat on the floor in front of the coffee table to eat her nachos while they watched the start of the movie.

When they were finished eating they paused the movie to clean up. Tony grabbed Maddy's backpack to take out her lunch bag. He'd been packing less and less for her to eat cause she seemed to be bringing most of it home and it ended up getting thrown out; today was no different. Tony sighed; he was really worried about her well being. He checked in her bag again to make sure he hadn't missed anything that would go bad over the weekend and saw a crumpled piece of construction paper in the bottom of the bag. He pulled it out and opened it up; it was a crayon drawing of a dad and a little girl, who he assumed to be him and Maddy, but they had frowns drawn on their faces. He remembered what Ashley said about Aiden looking at her picture before she pushed him. This must be what that was about, he thought.

Tony took the picture into the living room where Maddy was waiting for him to resume the movie and sat on the couch beside her. "Maddy this is a nice picture, why is it crumpled?" She shrugged so he decided to try a different angle. "Ok, can you tell me who the picture is of?"

"That's me and that's you," she said as she pointed to each person.

"How come we have sad faces?"

"Cause' we want mommy to come back," she mumbled as she looked down and started sniffling.

"I know we do sweetheart but we talked about this remember, mommy can't come back."

"I know! Cause' she died!" Maddy was bawling now. Tony was shocked; that was the first time Maddy had really acknowledged that she understood that Alison had died and would never come back. Laura and he had explained the concept to her many times but she'd never said it herself; maybe she did finally understand. He couldn't stand watching her cry like that. He patted his leg and she immediately climbed onto his lap and cuddled her head into his chest. He held her close to him and rubbed her back for a few minutes, before pulling her head up so he could see her face.

"You're right sweeatheart. I'm proud of you for understanding what happened to your mom. And I know it's hard without her here." She nodded her head. "But you still have me and we're gonna be okay; you and me."

"How do you know?" She whimpered.

"Well, my mom died when I was only a couple years older than you, and it was hard at first, and I was confused and sad. But as time went on I got less and less sad. I always missed her; I still miss her now, but I turned out okay and I can be happy knowing that she loved me in the time she had with me. And I didn't have nearly as awesome of a dad as you do to make me feel better." Maddy was looking at him in awe as he told her that he lost his mom just like her. "I also know we'll be okay because I'm your dad and I love you, and I'm gonna do the best I can to make you happy and to make up for you not having your mom around. You're the most important thing to me now Maddy and you always will be, and that's how I know that we'll be okay." He smiled at her, hoping his words would help her let him in. "It's okay to miss mom; and it really helps to talk about her and remember the happy times you had with her so whenever you want to say something about her, you just say it okay?"

She nodded her head in understanding. She'd stopped crying now and was very interested in all the things Tony was saying. Her daddy was a lot smarter than she thought.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah sweetie?"

"I'm sorry I pushed Aiden today. He didn't deserve that. All he did was ask about my picture and why I didn't draw my mom in it like him. It just made me mad."

"That's okay, I understand. But I think you need to apologize to Aiden on Monday."

"I will."

"Good girl," he smiled and hugged her and when she pulled away she was smiling too, a smile he hadn't seen in a couple weeks now.

"Can we watch the Mighty Ducks now?" Tony laughed.

"Yes sir Mr. Ducksworth, thank you very much Mr. Ducksworth, quack quack quack Mr. Ducksworth!" Tony quoted the movie in a goofy voice. That got Maddy laughing hysterically as he pressed play on the remote and they settled back into the couch to watch the movie.

Tony was so happy he'd finally had a bit of a break through with her. She seemed to understand and accept that Alison was dead. It seemed that she had a little more trust in him when he told her that they'd be okay. He got her to talk and open up at least a bit and even managed to get that adorable little laugh out of her. He meant what he said when he told her that they'd be okay. She was definitely the most important thing in his life now and he would spend it trying to make her happy. She was his little buddy and the pair would be just fine.

Maddy had fallen asleep on his chest towards the end of the movie and when it was over he wasn't quite ready to move her yet. He was getting used to the feeling of having her cuddled up to him. Watching her sleep and listening to her breathing was strangely soothing to him. So this is what being a good dad feels like, he thought. He turned the TV to ESPN and watched the last half of the basketball game while she slept on him. When that was over he decided that they'd made enough progress for tonight and didn't feel like even trying to put her in her own bed. He carried her to his room and put her in bed. He decided he was also pretty tired, even thought it was only 11pm. Tony changed and brushed his teeth and chuckled at the fact that he was going to bed so early on a Friday night. Having a kid sure had changed things. When he got in bed and turned the light off Maddy woke up.

"Daddy?"

"I'm right here sweetheart."

"What're we going to do tomorrow?" She asked him. She hadn't talked to him as much in the past two weeks combined as she had tonight.

"Actually Maddy, watching Mighty Ducks gave me a good idea. I was thinking since you've gotten pretty good on your skates that maybe we'll go buy you a hockey stick and a puck tomorrow and I'll teach you how to shoot." He never played organized hockey as a kid but he grew up in New York so him and his friends played quite a bit on the outdoor rinks.

"Really?!"

"Yeah, if you want to."

"Yes please, yes please!" He laughed at her enthusiasm. This had originally been their plan for Maddy's birthday but with Alison dying they hadn't ended up celebrating, as her birthday was only 3 days after Alison died. He worried about the impact this would have on her.

"Okay it's a plan, but you have to get some sleep now so you have energy for tomorrow." He decided he would take her out for breakfast in the morning before they went to the rink.

"Okay daddy, goodnight." He smiled as she rolled over to go to sleep. Tony stayed on his side facing his little girl and ran his hand over her head a few times before he easily drifted into a much needed restful, worry-free sleep.

**Okay, I've decided that there will be two more chapters before Tony starts working at NCIS. The second chapter of the two will be when Tony first meets Gibbs, as seen in the flashbacks in the Season 8 episode "Baltimore". So stay tuned and please review!**


	5. Chapter 5 - 2000

**Chapter 5 – 2000 (September)**

Tony stood in the kitchen of his small two-bedroom apartment preparing dinner. His daughter Maddy was quietly playing with her toys in the living room, entertaining herself for now. Tony had learned quickly that he had an intelligent and extremely energetic kid on his hands. She much preferred to play outside in the open space then to have to do quieter things inside. She liked to read and draw and color when she was forced to be inside but she got bored of these things fairly quickly. It didn't help matters that she was an only child with only one parent, leaving just Tony to entertain her. He loved playing with his daughter and spending time with her but she sure was hard to keep up with sometimes.

Emotionally, Maddy was doing much better in the eight months since her mother passed away but she still had good days and bad days. Most days Maddy was her hyper, talkative and outgoing self, but there were some days when she would be quiet and shy. When Tony asked her what was wrong she would just shrug and say she didn't know. There was also the fact that she was still spending a lot of nights sleeping in his bed with him. She had gotten used to being put to bed in her own room but Tony was woken in the middle of the night at least twice a week by her climbing into his bed with him. Sometimes she would stand at the side of his bed sniffling and teary eyed from a nightmare and his heart would melt and he'd let her climb right in and snuggle up to him. Other nights he'd wake up and roll over to find she'd just gotten in without asking at some point while he was asleep.

About a month after Alison passed away Tony had spoken to Alison's sister Laura about whether Maddy's behavior was normal or not. They decided together that maybe it was worth talking to a doctor about. Maddy's pediatrician had sent Maddy to a child therapist who specialized in helping kids deal with loss. Tony saw a significant improvement in his daughter when she started seeing the therapist once a week and they decided to have Maddy continue to see him to help deal with the nightmares and the attachment to Tony, worrying that Maddy's fear of sleeping by herself was unhealthy. Between making sure she was okay emotionally and attempting to keep up with her on the weekends Tony was exhausted.

He was glad he'd found a good sitter that Maddy loved so that he could go out for some adult interaction and stress relief once in a while. In fact he'd been out with a couple guys from work for some drinks almost two months ago and had ran into his old high school music teacher, Wendy Miller. They drank, danced and flirted and she gave him her number at the end of the night. His buddies were impressed with him; it wasn't every day that you got one of your teacher's phone numbers. The two had gone out a couple more times and then officially started dating.

Tony told Wendy about Maddy on their second date but he had yet to introduce them. Tony was worried about how Maddy was going to react to him having a woman in his life; after all she'd been through. She was certainly getting used to having him all to herself. Tony wanted to be sure about his feelings for Wendy before he introduced her to Maddy. Having women walking in and out of Maddy's life wouldn't be good for her so he had decided that she would only ever be introduced to women that he was really serious about.

Tony and Wendy had seen each other the night before and he decided that it was time that they met. She was coming over that night for dinner which is why he was in the kitchen making a Chicken Parmesan.

"What you cooking daddy?" Tony jumped, startled. He'd been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed Maddy had come into the kitchen and was sitting at the table with a coloring book out. Tony put the chicken in the oven and sat down in the seat beside Maddy and pulled her onto his lap, making her laugh.

"I am making Chicken Parmesan sweetie." She looked at him questioningly; he'd never made her that before.

"What's that?"

"It's yummy chicken with spaghetti sauce and cheese and pasta. It's a special dinner tonight."

"Why is tonight special daddy?"

"Well sweetheart, there's somebody coming over that I want you to meet. She's a special friend of daddy's; she's my girlfriend. I really like her and I think that you'll really like her too."

"Did you kiss her?" Tony laughed at her bluntness.

"I did and I do."

"Cause' at school Liam told Jeff that I'm his girlfriend and I thought he just called me that cause' I'm a girl and I'm his friend but then Jeff said Liam had to kiss me to prove it so he did." Tony nearly choked on the sip of water he'd just taken upon hearing that.

"What?!"

"Liam kissed me so now I'm his girlfriend."

"Madeline DiNozzo! You are not old enough to be kissing boys that aren't your daddy." This earned him a devilish smile. He knew he'd have his hands full with this one and boys but he thought he had many more years before he'd have to worry about that. "And what about cooties?" He tried.

"Daddy only the weird boys think girls have cooties. My friends don't do cooties." Just then there was a knock on the door; they'd definitely be continuing this conversation later and he was certainly thinking about making a call to Maddy's teacher to see what she knew about this kissing stuff.

"That must be Wendy. We're going to talk about this kissing stuff later, you and me." He stood up and threw Maddy over his shoulder sending her into giggles.

"Daddy!"

Tony opened the door to let Wendy in. When she saw him with his daughter over his should her heart melted. He tickled Maddy a couple times then put her down giggling.

"Hey," they said to each other as Tony took Wendy's coat and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Wendy this is my daughter Maddy," he gestured to the girl who was suddenly uncharacteristically shy and was staying close to her dad's leg, hanging onto his shirt.

"Hi Maddy."

"Hi," Maddy answered back, barely audible.

"Alright well come on in. I've got to check on dinner." Maddy followed her dad back into the kitchen and sat at the table where she had been coloring before.

Wendy stood at the counter beside Tony and asked Maddy a bunch of questions about school and her friends and the things she liked, much like Tony had when he first met his daughter a year before that. Maddy was answering Wendy's questions but didn't seem to have much of a desire to elaborate on her answers like she usually did. Tony kept trying to suggest things for Maddy to tell Wendy about, hoping to get her excited but it wasn't working. Finally dinner was ready and Tony asked his daughter to put her pencil crayons and coloring book away in her room.

"I don't know what's gotten into her," Tony whispered to Wendy once Maddy was out of the room, "usually I can't get her to shut up."

"It's okay Tony. We knew there was a good possibility that she wouldn't be okay with this and it would take some time. I would've been surprised if she'd just started talking to me like we were best friends right away."

"I know but I just want her to like you as much as I do. Having a woman in her life again will be good for her if she'll let you in."

Over a month had passed since Wendy and Maddy first met. Tony had invited Wendy to do things with him and his daughter a few times since the first night and Maddy was starting to warm up to the idea of it a little bit. She wasn't a fan of having to share her dad with someone but Wendy was really nice and they always ended up having fun when the three of them did things together. The three of them had gone to the park and played soccer and got ice cream the second time they all hung out and since that they'd gone to a movie, out for dinner and just spent some time together at the DiNozzo apartment as well.

Maddy could tell that her dad really liked Wendy. He was always looking at her and smiling, and he hugged her and kissed her a lot. Sometimes she would get jealous when her dad would pay more attention to Wendy than her.

Tony had asked Ashley to come over tonight to look after Maddy so that he could take Wendy out on a date without taking Maddy along. Wendy didn't mind that with Tony usually came Maddy as well, but sometimes she wanted to go on more adult dates with him. Things between them had been moving pretty slow. They also had only slept together a few times, to both of their disliking. It was difficult to get time alone together when Tony had a 6-year-old and he hadn't let Wendy stay over at his place yet because he was too afraid of his daughter catching them and being horrified for the rest of her life.

Tonight they had gone out for a nice dinner and then to an Irish pub for a couple drinks and some live music. If Tony didn't have Maddy at home waiting for him they probably would've had a lot more drinks, stayed out much later and taken a cab back to her place where he would've spent the night. Instead, Tony was driving Wendy back to her place and going home to his daughter, who was probably giving Ashley a hard time about going to bed before he got home to say goodnight.

They pulled up in front of Wendy's building and Tony got out to open her door and walk her in.

"Why don't you stay for a while?" Wendy asked him as they got to the front door.

"I would love to, you know that, but I can't."

"Tony, Maddy's fine. She's probably in bed by now anyways." She moved closer to him so that their bodies were touching and her face was inches from his as she looked up at him. "I'll make it worth it for you," she whispered in his ear seductively.

Tony groaned. He really did want to stay. "You don't know Maddy as well as I do, bedtime is a touchy subject, especially if I'm not there."

"Tony she needs to get used to the fact that you won't always be there with her every night. How is she going to get used to that if you keep babying her and letting her sleep with you?"

Now he was getting irritated. They had talked about this issue before and he was happy to hear advice on the subject and talk it out with her but this was going too far – she was telling him how to raise his kid. "Why do you think she's seeing the therapist about this? We're working on it but it hasn't been easy. Her mom passed away and she became attached to me. I'm all she has now and she's afraid of losing me too." He took a step back from her; he really didn't need this right now.

"I'm just saying that every date we've gone on you've gone home early and alone to put Maddy to bed. Maybe that isn't helping? Maybe having to be without you for a night is the push she needs."

Just then Tony's phone started to ring. The caller ID showed it was his house phone. "Hello?" There was a pause while Ashley spoke on the other end. "Yeah I'm on my way home right now; I'll be there in 15 minutes." He hung up and turned to Wendy. "I'm sorry. I know you don't agree with how I'm handling this, but she's my kid. I gotta go." With that he gave her a quick kiss and walked back to his car, leaving Wendy standing at the apartment door, quite annoyed.

Tony drove home thinking about the conversation they'd just had. He was a little ticked off that she'd tried to tell him what to do about Maddy. He also understood why she felt that way. They didn't get many chances alone together and he suspected she wouldn't be sticking around too much longer if things kept going this way. How did other single parents do it, he wondered. People get re-married all the time, how do they find the time to balance a new relationship and their kids? His life was so simple before. He could go out to a bar, meet a pretty girl and take her back to her place and do whatever he wanted, not having to worry about a kid at home. He loved Maddy but she sure did turn his life upside down. He pulled into the parking lot of his apartment after coming to a decision. He really liked Wendy and he knew it could go somewhere with her, so he'd find a way to make this work.

After the fight Tony had with Wendy about Maddy they didn't talk to each other for a couple days. Once they cooled down Tony called her and they both apologized for the things they said.

"I didn't mean to tell you how to raise her Tony, I know she's your daughter and I have no place in giving you advice on what to do about her unless you ask for it."

"It's okay. I'm new to this so I should be welcoming any advice that anyone's willing to give."

The following weekend Tony invited her over. They ordered pizza and watched a movie with Maddy. Half way through the movie Tony noticed Maddy falling asleep in her chair.

"Tired Maddy-bear?" She nodded her head. Tony had nicknamed her Maddy-bear one night and it stuck. He'd been calling her that for weeks now. "Alright, why don't you go put your pj's on and I'll come tuck you in."

"Okay."

Wendy waited in the living room for Tony to tuck his daughter in.

Maddy put her pj's on, climbed into her bed, and grabbed her teddy bear. Tony pulled the covers up over her and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Sweetheart I want to ask you something before you go to sleep." He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and ran his hand along her face lovingly.

"What is it daddy?"

"Well, I know you sometimes have nightmares and you get scared and that's why you come and sleep with me. " Maddy nodded. "I want to ask you if it would be okay with you if before you come and climb in bed with daddy you ask permission first?"

"But why?"

"Because daddy wants to ask Wendy to have a sleepover with him sometimes but we need our privacy," he tried to explain so that she'd understand but not be horrified by the idea of it.

"But why do you want her to sleep here?"

"Sweetie when two grown-ups really like each other and they're boyfriend and girlfriend they like to have sleepovers, it's just how it is."

"Oh okay."

"So can you do that for me; knock on my door and ask if you can come in when you have nightmares and want to sleep with daddy?"

"But can I still come sleep with you if Wendy is sleeping over?"

"Yes, daddy will always make room for you if you ask."

"Okay then."

"That's my good girl." Tony kissed his daughter on the forehead. "Have a good sleep, I love you."

"Love you too daddy." Tony stood up, turned on her nightlight and turned off the big light and left the room, gently closing the door behind him.

He realized Wendy had been waiting for him in the living room for a while. Usually it only took him a few minutes but tonight it seemed like he was in there forever.

"Didn't want to go to sleep tonight?" Wendy asked.

"We were having a talk."

"About?"

"She agreed to knock on the door and ask permission before coming to sleep with me when she gets scared."

"Really?"

"Yep. So, would you like to spend the night?" She didn't answer him, instead just kissed him hard and stood up, pulling him towards his bedroom.

Tony laughed and let himself be pulled along. When they reached his room he closed the door behind them and picked her up, depositing her on her back on his bed and crawling on top of her.

He started kissing her neck and whispered in her ear, "Just have to be very, very quiet." They both smiled and laughed as they kissed again.

**Not the best chapter but I had to get Wendy in there somehow. Next chapter Tony meets Gibbs!**


	6. Chapter 6 - 2001

**Chapter 6 – October 2001 **

**If you haven't seen the Season 8 episode "Baltimore" you should watch it for two reasons: 1 – because it's an awesome episode and 2 – because this chapter will make a whole lot more sense.**

7-year-old Madeline DiNozzo sat at her desk in her second grade class not paying any attention to her teacher, who was explaining, for what seemed like the hundredth time, how to borrow 1's when subtracting. Maddy was a very smart girl and this was a skill she'd already mastered. She felt like she was always able to learn things much faster than most kids in her class and she was never challenged. Although she liked being the smartest kid in class she was often very bored. Because of this boredom she often found herself bothering other kids in her class so that she'd have someone to talk to, an act which constantly got her yelled at by her teacher. On the days when she wasn't disrupting the class she found herself daydreaming instead.

Today Maddy was lost in thought, thinking about the events of the previous night. Her dad had asked his girlfriend of a year to marry him and she had said yes. This was something Maddy wasn't all that thrilled about. In the year that Tony had been dating Wendy Maddy had grown to accept Wendy as a part of her life because she made her dad happy, but she truly wasn't a fan of the woman. Sure the three of them did have fun together sometimes and Wendy was usually very nice to her, but there was just something about her that Maddy didn't like. She was not a fan of having to share her dad; truthfully the attention he gave Wendy made her jealous.

Meanwhile, Tony and his partner Danny had been working on a murder investigation for the past week or so and had gotten a lead the previous night. They arrested a guy in connection to the murder and brought him back to the station, only to find that he was an undercover Navy Cop named Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

"So what am I supposed to call you?" Tony asked him. "Special Agent Leroy? How bout' Jethro? That's a little Beverly hillbillys. Gibbs it is then."

Tony and Danny informed Gibbs about the case they were working on and then Tony attempted to understand what Gibbs' plan had been. "So you put on a funny hat, fill a briefcase with some case, give Joey the dirty dough, he gives it to his boss and you follow the trail and make a bust?"

"That was the plan, until you screwed it up." Gibbs replied.

"Me?" Tony asked him, offended. "Listen here, you're the one that didn't tell the department your…N.C.I.S…. was running an op," Tony mocked the name of NCIS.

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The next day Tony and Danny sat in an unmarked police van doing surveillance as Joey, the other suspect they had apprehended, made a money exchange with a money laundering Navy client, who they would later arrest.

"We need to talk Tony," Danny told him.

"What is it?"

"This fell out of your jacket." Danny held up an engagement ring box. "You planning to propose to Wendy or something?"

"Actually I already did."

"What?"

"Yeah, I have to take it back and get it resized."

Danny was shocked. "So she said?"

"She said yes, smart-ass."

"And you were going to tell me this when?"

"I wanted to tell her first before I told anyone else."

"Okay, well, congrats man, excellent."

"Thanks."

"So what does Maddy think?"

"I'm not sure. I'm having a hard time reading her. I asked her if it was okay and she said yes, but I get the feeling that she's not all that thrilled."

"Well, she's been through a lot of change in the last couple years."

"Yeah I know. I think it will be good for her though. Wendy likes her; they get along. She needs a woman in her life again permanently. I hope she gets used to the idea of it soon."

"She will man." They were distracted by the arrival of a suspect outside the van. "We got company."

"Hey how'd we end up doing a Navy cop's job anyways?" Tony asked Danny.

"Cause' he's smarter than us."

"More devious maybe, I don't know about smarter."

"I kind of liked him actually."

"Who would want to be a Navy cop anyways? I'd rather have the plague," Tony thought out loud.

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The following day Tony chased the money laundering Navy guy down the street, yelling at him as they ran.

"I have a degree in physical education, I played varsity basketball at Ohio State, this isn't going to end well for you! Your money laundering days are over!" Tony continued to chase the man down a deserted back alleyway. Finally the man stopped, but he turned and pulled a gun on Tony.

"Stop! Or this isn't going to end well for you," he told Tony as he pointed the gun at him.

"Hey is that a Walter P99? Thanks, now we don't have to find the murder weapon."

"Either I walk out of here or I shoot."

"You're not walking out of here," Tony laughed.

"I'm serious," the man threatened, as he fired a shot from his gun up into the air to try and intimidate Tony.

Just then, Danny came out from the shadows, his gun drawn on the suspect. "So are we," he told him. Tony watched as the suspect turned to see Danny pointing a gun in his face and was confused by the look that crossed the man's face. He shook it off and arrested the man so that they could bring him back to the station and go home for the evening.

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A couple days later, after work, Tony picked his daughter up from the babysitter's house and started driving home. Maddy was much quieter than usual on the drive home but Tony didn't really notice as he was lost in thought about his partner and the Navy guy, Lt. Floyd, that they had arrested. Something just didn't feel right about the exchange of facial expressions he had seen between the two.

When they got home Maddy took off her shoes and jacket and went to play in her room, not feeling much like socializing with her father tonight. Tony made some quick macaroni and cheese for Maddy as he thought about what to do about his partner. He knew he had to say something, to hear Danny's side of things before coming to any concrete conclusions. He decided to see if Wendy could watch Maddy for the evening so that he could go confront Danny. He needed to know.

He picked up the phone and hit the speed dial for Wendy's cell. "Hey! Listen I need a favor. Can you watch Maddy for a few hours? There's something I have to do."

"Of course," she replied over the phone, "I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

Tony called Maddy from her room for dinner. Tony sat at the table with his daughter while she ate her dinner. "Sweetheart I have to leave for a bit to take care of something tonight."

"Okay dad, is Ashley coming over to watch me?" Maddy asked as she ate her mac n' cheese.

"No not Ashley. Wendy's going to be here in a few minutes and you're going to hang out with her tonight. Is that okay?" He'd only left Wendy alone with Maddy a few times before.

"I guess so," she replied, shrugging.

"Wendy really likes you sweetheart. Maybe if you ask nicely she will do your hair and paint your nails for you," he laughed awkwardly. Maddy just smiled at her dad's attempt at exciting her about being alone with his fiancée. It was no secret that Tony was not good with the girly stuff. The only thing he could really do was comb Maddy's hair for her after a bath, and he tended to hurt her, so she'd started doing it by herself recently. The only time Maddy got help with girly things like her hair and nails was when her aunt Laura came to visit. Not that Maddy really cared all that much; she wasn't too big into all that girly stuff anyways. She much preferred sports.

When Wendy arrived Tony gave his daughter, who was now watching TV in the living room, a kiss on the head and told her to behave.

"Thanks for watching her," he told Wendy, "I appreciate it. I really need to go see Danny about something that happened. I should be back before she has to go to bed."

"Don't worry about it. Are you okay Tony?" She was concerned; she could tell that he was really struggling with something.

"I'm fine. I'll explain everything later when I get home okay?"

"Of course."

"Okay, I'll see you in a bit. I love you." He gave her a quick kiss and was out the door, leaving Wendy alone with Maddy.

"So Maddy, what should we do while your dad's gone?"

Maddy looked from the TV to Wendy. "Can we just watch a movie?"

"Sure! You pick one and I'll make us some popcorn." Maddy nodded as Wendy went to the kitchen. Wendy knew that Maddy didn't really like her but she was trying to put up with her for Tony. She loved him but sometimes Maddy got on her nerves and the fact that Tony already had a daughter sometimes scared her. There were days when she just wanted to run away from it and never look back.

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Tony walked into Danny's house, leaving the door wide open.

"What, were you born in a barn? Close the door, it's freezing out."

"DA says we got enough to make a murder conviction." He ignored Danny's request.

"You came all this way to tell me that? Where's your rugrat anyways?" Danny looked around, surprised. Maddy usually went everywhere with him.

"Actually, I came all the way here because of what I saw in Lt. Floyd's eyes when you got the drop on him; something that I spent the last two days trying to pretend I didn't see. Betrayal." Danny looked down, clearly uncomfortable with where this conversation was headed.

"He knew you. And I'm wondering how can that be?" Tony continued, "it didn't make any sense so I pulled your phone records. The two of you, couple of chatty patty's huh? Fifteen calls over the last two months. I know there's plenty of ways to explain that right? But there's only one reason you never mentioned it."

"What's that?" Danny asked him.

"Cause' you're a dirty cop Danny." The anger and disappointment with his partner evident in his voice and the hurt look on his face.

"Tony come on!"

"Careful, be very careful, I'm not feeling the love right now."

Danny sighed. "Okay, I was sending potential clients in Floyd's direction, if they laundered money through him I got a kickback."

"So how much did you get to keep your mouth shut on a homicide Danny?" Tony's voice was escalating to a much louder, angrier volume.

"No! No; Tony I had no idea that Floyd was our guy. Did he seem like a killer to you? He didn't seem like one to me," he tried to justify himself.

"You saw what you wanted to see."

"So what're you going to do?"

Tony didn't know the answer to that question. He couldn't believe what his partner had done but they were friends, turning him in would be hard.

"So I'm going to take a walk," Danny told Tony, "I guess if you're still here when I get back I'll have my answer." Tony couldn't look at him, he was too mad. He stayed quiet as Danny left through the side door.

Tony stood in Danny's living room for a minute. He heard a noise at the open front door and spun around and drew his gun. "Heads up! I'm in a shoot first, ask questions later frame of mind."

Gibbs walked slowly and silently in the front door and Tony put his gun away.

"You followed me?" Gibbs remained silent. "How long did you know?"

"Didn't."

"Just a hunch huh? What're you going to do?"

"He's your partner."

"Yeah," Tony sighed, "what am I going to do?"

Tony drove back home; his mind racing through everything that had happened, everything that had been said. He tried to figure out what the best thing to do was. When he pulled up to his apartment he didn't get out of the car. He wanted to be alone so he stayed in his car thinking in silence for a good twenty minutes.

When Tony finally went upstairs he found Wendy alone in the living room, curled up on the couch watching a show. "Maddy was falling asleep watching a movie so I put her to bed. She didn't want to but I told her you'd go in and say goodnight when you got home."

"Thanks."

"Tony you look exhausted, what was that all about?"

Tony sighed. "Danny's a dirty cop. I figured it out and I don't know what to do about it."

"Oh Tony, I'm sorry, I know that must put you in an impossible position." Wendy got up and wrapped her arms around Tony's waist, hoping she could make him feel better.

"Yeah." He hugged her tight to his chest and buried his face in her hair.

"Why don't we go to bed?" She suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds good, I'll be in in a minute; I'm just going to check on Maddy first."

Tony walked down the hall to Maddy's room and slowly and quietly opened the door. The light from the hallway lit up her room enough that Tony could see her in her bed, asleep on her side, facing the door, holding tightly onto her teddy bear. She looked so delicate and cute. That instantly brought a smile to his face. If there was one thing in the world that could make him feel better after a tough day, it was definitely his precious little girl. He'd only known her for two years but he couldn't imagine what he'd do without her now.

Maddy woke up because of the light to find her dad standing in her doorway just looking at her. "Daddy?"

"I'm sorry sweetheart, I didn't mean to wake you up," he whispered as he shut the door and made his way over to her bed. "Scoot over." Maddy moved over to make room for her dad. He climbed under the covers with her and pulled her in close to him, hugging her.

"Are you okay dad?" Concern very clear in the sleepy 7-year-old's voice.

"I had a real bad couple of days sweetheart. But hugs from you make me feel much better," he told her as he brushed hair from her face. "Is it okay if I stay in here with you for a little while?"

"Yeah." She smiled and snuggled in even closer to her dad's side.

"Okay, you go back to sleep Maddy-bear. I love you lots."

"Love you too daddy," she told him before quickly falling back to sleep.

Comforted by his little girl snuggled under his arm and exhausted from the stressful past few days and a lack of sleep, it wasn't long before Tony too was fast asleep in Maddy's bed.

When Wendy got tired of waiting in Tony's bed for him she decided to go and check what was taking so long. When she opened the door slightly and looked in she found her fiancée and his daughter cuddled up together, both fast asleep. Tony was such a wonderful, caring father and she loved that about him. But, as she stood there watching them for a minute she realized that she'd always be his number two girl, and Maddy would always be number one. Maddy would always come first before her. Was that really what she wanted at this point in her life?

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A few days later Tony stepped off of the elevator in the NCIS building to find Special Agent Gibbs waiting for him.

"You made it," he pointed out.

"Yeah." They walked down a hallway in silence for a minute. "You going to ask?"

"Nope," Gibbs replied.

"I'm leaving it alone. It was wrong, way wrong but…"

"He's your partner."

"Ex partner. I'm not going back to Baltimore. I can't. I don't know what I'm going to do. Maybe being a cop isn't for me." That last sentence earned Tony a smack to the back of the head. They stopped walking down the hall. "Did you just physically assault me?"

"I don't have a lot of rules, but rule number five is 'you don't waste good' and you're good."

"Thanks." Tony rubbed the back of his head. "Don't make a habit of that." That sentence earned him a mocking love tap on the cheek. Gibbs turned Tony around to find that they were standing right outside of the Agent Applicant Division of Human Resources.

Tony laughed. "Did I mention you're a devious man Gibbs?"

"Boy I got vision and the rest of the world is wearing bifocals," Gibbs quoted as he walked away, leaving Tony outside HR laughing.

"Butch Cassidy, nice!" Tony called after him. He opened the door in front of him and took a giant step towards a new, brighter future.


	7. Chapter 7 - 2002

**Chapter 7 – May 2002**

"Grab your gear DiNozzo, got a missing kid," Gibbs called to Tony from across the bullpen as he stood up, coffee in hand and started quickly towards the elevator. Tony took his gun and badge out of his desk drawer and grabbed his backpack from behind him and was chasing Gibbs towards the elevator.

Tony had been working at NCIS for six months now and he found he was really enjoying it. It was a nice change from Baltimore homicide. Instead of always working murder cases they got different cases – any crime committed against the Navy was something they'd investigate. In addition to many murder cases, he'd investigated espionage, terrorism and missing persons. However he'd yet to have a missing child.

They arrived at the elementary school where the child was taken from where they met with the teacher, principal and the child's mother, Lt. Smith. 10-year-old Mackenzie Smith didn't return to class after the students' outside lunch break. Gibbs spoke with the principal and the teacher while DiNozzo interviewed Lt. Smith.

"Principal Anderson called me to ask if I had picked up Mackenzie over lunch and forgotten to sign her out. I told him that she wasn't with me and that nobody was supposed to pick her up at lunch today. That's when he told me that she didn't return to class after lunch and couldn't be found anywhere in the school," Lt. Smith told Tony.

"Okay, do you know of anyone who would want to take Mackenzie?"

She started to shake her head no but then a realization dawned on her. "Yes. My ex-husband. We're going through a custody battle right now. He knows I'm going to win. He took my baby didn't he Agent DiNozzo?"

"We're going to find him Lieutenant, don't worry." He reached across the table and patted her hand in support.

"Do you have any kids Agent DiNozzo?"

Tony didn't notice that Gibbs had finished up his interviews with the principal and teacher and was now standing behind him. "I do," he told Lt. Smith with a smile as he thought about Maddy, "her name is Madeline; she's eight."

"As a parent you must know that it's impossible not to worry. If there's a chance that anything could happen to your child, you worry, its just part of being a parent."

"We'll find her Lieutenant. You should go home so that we can get ahold of you." He gave her hand another squeeze before standing up with the picture of Mackenzie to put out a BOLO for Mr. Smith. He turned around to find his boss standing right in front of him looking rather confused and slightly unhappy.

"Something you haven't told me DiNozzo?"

"Uh, no Boss, I'm going to go put out this BOLO for the Leiutenant's ex-husband. He's probably the one that took Mackenzie. Apparently they're going through an ugly custody battle."

"Not what I'm talking about DiNozzo."

"Then what boss?"

"Madeline?"

"Oh, you heard that?"

"Well yeah DiNozzo! You've been working here for six months; when the hell were you going to tell me you have a kid?"

"Sorry boss, it never came up." That earned him a head slap.

"Rule Number 6, never apologize, it's a sign of weakness."

"Won't happen again boss." They got back in the car and Tony called in the BOLO while Gibbs drove to the Lt.'s ex-husband's house to see if he was there.

They drove in silence for a few minutes before Tony decided he owed his boss some sort of explanation for not mentioning Maddy to him. He'd mentioned his fiancée Wendy a few times after getting off the phone with her so Gibbs was aware that he was engaged but he'd never had a reason to mention Maddy to him.

"Maddy's eight. She loves sports. She plays soccer in the summer and hockey in the winter. She keeps begging me to let her try out for the competitive hockey team next season. She's really smart. She's outgoing and talkative, which tends to get her in trouble at school on a daily basis." Tony smiled. "I wasn't purposely not telling you about her boss, you just never asked."

"She sounds a lot like you DiNozzo. I'd like to meet her sometime."

"Okay. Uh, how about at my wedding? It's next weekend and it'd be nice if you came," Tony awkwardly invited Gibbs to his wedding.

Gibbs laughed at the fact that Tony was just then mentioning that his wedding was less than a week away, "sure DiNozzo."

The Lt.'s ex-husband was not at his house, and judging by the looks of the place, he wasn't planning on coming back anytime soon either.

When they arrived back at NCIS Tony ran a profile on Dan Smith and found that he was currently unemployed after being fired from the insurance brokerage he worked at six months ago. Lt. Smith told him that after their divorce he was angry and started drinking and that's why he lost his job. She said that he used to be a good father up until that. Once he lost his job and started drinking he neglected his daughter and that's why Lt. Smith was trying to get full custody of her daughter.

"Run his cell phone DiNozzo," Gibbs instructed him.

"It's turned off boss but his last call was made to an Adrianna Smith last night at 9pm; sister maybe?"

"Where's she live?"

"Here in DC boss, bring her in?"

"Nope, we're going to go to her, maybe Dan Smith is there with Mackenzie. Don't want to give him a chance to run."

They arrived at Adrianna Smith's house and found no sign of Dan and Mackenzie Smith. "Was your brother here Ms. Smith?" Gibbs asked her.

"Yes, he stopped in for lunch with my niece. They just left a few hours ago."

"Did he tell you what he was planning to do?"

"Planning to do? What are you talking about?"

"He kidnapped his daughter from school today. We believe he's trying to run away with her because he was about to lose his joint custody of Mackenzie."

"He was acting strange today. He told me he wouldn't be able to talk for a while but he'd call me when he could. He asked me not to tell his ex-wife that I saw him and Mackenzie today, but I have no reason to anyways, I don't speak to her."

"Did he tell you where he was going?" Gibbs all but yelled at her.

"Not exactly, he just told me that he was taking Mackenzie on a trip and she seemed pretty excited about it. She kept talking about how her dad was taking her to the beach and they were going to get to fly on a plane. He deserved a vacation with her; I never thought he was doing anything wrong."

"Well, he might not be planning on coming back," Tony told her.

"DiNozzo call the International airports within 100 miles of here and send them Mackenzie and Dan's pictures. We can't let them get on a plane or they'll be out of the country."

"On it boss!"

3 stressful hours later Tony and Gibbs watched from their desks as Lt. Smith was reunited with her daughter. Security at Washington Dulles airport had received the pictures and recognized Dan and Mackenzie trying to get on a plane to Brazil. Security held them until NCIS could get there to pick them up.

"Boss do you mind if I get going home now? This case has just been making me think about Maddy all day."

"Yeah DiNozzo, get outta here."

"Thank you boss." He grabbed his bag and headed for the elevator. He still had to make the hour-long drive home in this traffic, as he was still living in Baltimore. Him and Wendy had decided to wait until the summer, when both her and Maddy would be off school, to buy a house for them all to live together in. For now Wendy spent most nights at Tony and Maddy's apartment but hadn't sold her own place yet. She said she was keeping it until they could both sell their places and use the money to buy a house together but truthfully she liked to have her own space sometimes, away from Tony and his daughter.

When Tony was almost home his cell rang.

"DiNozzo."

"Daddy it's me. When are you coming to get me? It's late."

"I know sweetie I'm sorry, I'll be there in ten minutes. I thought maybe Wendy would pick you up for me tonight." Tony hung up the phone and sighed. Wendy had been acting strange lately and spent less time than usual at his place over the past week.

By the time Tony and Maddy got home that night it was well past dinner and Tony was thankful that the sitter had made Maddy something to eat so that he didn't have to at this hour. Maddy unpacked her school bag and changed into pj's while Tony showered and then they snuggled up on the couch to watch a show before Maddy had to go to bed.

"Sweetheart have any of your teachers ever talked to you about what to do if someone tries to take you from school?" Tony asked his daughter, still very affected by the case he'd had today.

"You mean like a stranger?" She asked curiously.

"Yes strangers or even someone you may know."

"Well momma always told me not to talk to strangers unless she told me it was okay."

"Yes that's right. So if you were outside on recess at school and a man you didn't know told you he had a bunch of cute puppies to show you and your friends, what would you do?"

"Run away?" She guessed.

"Yes but you have to run straight to a teacher or supervisor and tell them because the stranger could convince other kids to go with him, right?"

"Yeah I guess so," she didn't seem to be all that interested in this conversation her dad was trying to have with her.

Tony shut the TV off so that Maddy would pay attention to what he was saying. His case that day had made him realize how easy it would be for someone to take his girl away from him and he needed to make sure she knew how to stay safe.

"Sweetheart this is very important okay? There are a lot of bad people in the world and I want you to know how to stay safe so I don't lose you."

"But your job is to catch the bad people isn't it dad?"

Tony chuckled. "Yes it is but there are some people that are bad but we haven't caught them yet."

"Oh."

"So what would you do if someone came to school and said that they were my friend and that I sent them to pick you up?"

"Tell the teacher?"

"Yes. Anyone that picks you up from school has to have my permission and the office will know that because I will call them and tell them if someone else is picking you up."

"Okay."

"So, remember, you never go anywhere with somebody you don't know and if a stranger tries to get you to go with them you run and tell right away."

"Okay daddy I get it. You worry a lot."

"I'm your dad, it's my job to worry about you. Now, time for bed!" Maddy sighed and reluctantly got up and followed her dad to her room where he was pulling back the covers for her to get in. Tony tucked his daughter in and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"I love you Maddy-bear, have a good sleep." He patted her head and turned off her lamp as he left the room.

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It was the day before his wedding and Tony was thankful that he'd gotten off of work fairly early. Maddy's aunt Laura had just gotten into town from Ohio for the weekend for his wedding and he was taking her and Maddy out for dinner. Wendy had said she wanted to spend the night with her mom and dad so she wasn't joining them.

They had a great dinner together at a little Italian place near Tony's apartment. It was nice for Maddy to get to spend some time with her aunt. She was very good with Maddy and Tony wished that she lived closer to them. The three of them walked back to the apartment after dinner with Maddy skipping a few feet ahead of Tony and Laura, giving them an opportunity to talk.

"She seems to be doing really well," Laura told him. "Both of you seem really happy Tony."

He smiled. "We are."

"I'm glad." They walked in silence for a few minutes just watching Maddy skip happily ahead of them in the warm May air.

"I finish Teacher's College this year you know," Laura mentioned.

"Already? Wow time flies."

"I've been looking at where I want to apply for a teaching job and I'm seriously considering Baltimore. There are some great schools and lots of opportunities and of course I'd love to be close to you guys." She smiled.

"That would be amazing Laura," Tony told her, "We'd love to have you closer. It would be really good for Maddy; I know she misses you." He gave her a soft smile and wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they walked through the parking lot of the apartment building towards the entrance. Tony's smile changed to a look of confusion when he noticed Wendy's car in the parking lot.

Laura noticed his look and asked him what was wrong, but he shook it off suggesting that maybe she'd just forgotten something that she needed for tomorrow. However when they walked in the door of his apartment he quickly realized that something wasn't right. There were two suitcases by the front door and Wendy was sitting on the edge of the couch staring at the floor.

"What're you doing here?" Tony asked her in confusion and worry. "And why are there suitcases at the door?" Over the past year Wendy had spent a majority of nights at Tony's apartment and had formed a large collection of belongings at his place.

"Tony please come sit down," Wendy asked him in a solemn tone.

Laura, realizing this wasn't going to be a conversation for Maddy to listen to, took her to her bedroom to occupy her while Tony and Wendy talked.

"Wendy what is going on?" Tony asked. He was now sitting on the couch beside her, although she made sure there was some space in between them.

"Tony, I'm sorry…" She pulled they engagement ring off of her finger and put it in his hand.

Tony looked down at the ring and then up at Wendy multiple times before it set in what she was doing. "What is this? What is going on?" He was getting upset and his voice was getting louder.

"I can't marry you Tony, I'm sorry." She was standing now, heading towards the front door but Tony was right on her tail.

"What do you mean you can't marry me? What happened? What did I do?" He was now standing between her and the door.

"It isn't you. I'm sorry." Wendy was holding back tears.

"You said that already!" He yelled at her. "Stop saying sorry and give me an explanation! We can talk about this. I love you!" Tony was angry and confused. He had tears in his eyes now.

"I just can't." She picked up her suitcases and tried to reach around Tony and open the door but he wouldn't let her.

"No! You're not leaving until you tell me why this is happening!"

Laura had heard Tony yelling from Maddy's room and was now watching him yell at Wendy from the hallway. "Tony," she called warningly to him, encouraging him to let her go; that this wasn't helping.

Tony reluctantly stepped aside to let Wendy leave. "Goodbye Tony," she whispered, just loud enough for him to hear as she walked out and shut the door behind her.

Tony slid down and collapsed with his back against the door, putting his head in his hands. He was still holding onto the ring. "I don't understand," he mumbled. Laura wasn't sure if he was asking her or just saying it to himself, so she stayed quiet; not knowing what to say to help him. Tony was angry, confused and hurt. Tears stung his eyes as he stared at the ring in his hand.

Maddy couldn't sit in her room any longer after hearing her dad yelling out in the living room. She walked into the room to see her dad sitting on the floor against the front door and she knew something was very wrong. She'd never seen her dad cry before.

"No! She can't just do this to me; to us!" Tony shouted and stood up, opening the door to go after her.

Seeing Tony like this was terrifying Maddy and she started to cry as well. "Daddy?" Tony turned and told Laura to stay with Maddy and he ran out, slamming the door. He made it down to the parking lot just in time to see Wendy's car driving away.

Hours later Laura was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea. She had finally been able to calm Maddy down enough for her to fall asleep and Tony still hadn't returned and Laura was starting to worry. Just then she heard the front door open and close and Tony walked past the kitchen and down the hallway into his room and shut the door.

Laura gave him a few minutes and then knocked on his door. "What?" He answered.

"Where the heck have you been? Maddy was very worried about you. She's never seen you like that before. It took me hours to get her to go to sleep."

"I'm sorry," he called from the other side of the door. He was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling. "I just needed to think."

"Do you want to talk?"

"No. Thanks."

"Okay. I'll be on the couch if you need me," she told him.

At some point in the early hours of the morning, after a lot of tossing and turning Tony finally fell asleep. When he woke up in the morning he momentarily forgot all about the previous night and was excited for his wedding day. However when he opened his eyes and found that Maddy had woken up and come to sleep with him at some point in the night it all came flooding back to him and he instantly wished he was still asleep and that this was just a bad dream.

The rest of the weekend Tony barely left his bed. He was lucky that Laura was there to look after Maddy and keep her occupied because he just didn't have it in him to look after his daughter at this point. Maddy was afraid; she had never seen Tony like this and she didn't understand.

"You remember how you felt when your mom died?" Laura asked Maddy. She was trying to find a way to explain why Tony was so sad. Maddy nodded yes.

"Well this is kind of like that for your dad. Wendy didn't die but she left and she's never coming back, so your dad is very sad that he'll never see her again. But he's also mad at her for leaving."

"Why did she leave though?"

"We don't know hunny, she just decided she didn't want to get married to your dad anymore."

"Oh."

At the end of the weekend Laura had to go back home to go to school and Tony had to go back to work. Gibbs had obviously been informed that the wedding had been called off and he was worried about his younger agent. Tony, who was normally full of jokes and movie quotes hadn't said anything non-case related all week. Gibbs wasn't one to pry so he left it alone, figuring that Tony would talk when he was ready.

Tony spent the week trying to get ahold of Wendy. He left messages on her machine trying to get some sort of explanation out of her but she never called him back. Finally a week later he gave up trying to contact her. She clearly had nothing else to say to him. When Tony went home every night he was reminded of how she just walked out and he started to hate his apartment and going home because of that. He decided he couldn't keep going on this way and it was time for him to make a change and take control of his and Maddy's own happiness.

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A month after Tony's engagement ended he and Maddy drove from Baltimore to DC on a Saturday to look at potential new apartments. Tony decided that they needed a change. He needed something to help him move on from Wendy. He was also sick of the commute from Baltimore to the Navy Yard in DC every day so he decided that him and Maddy were going to move.

Maddy sat silently in the backseat of the car for most of the ride but there was something she just had to ask her dad – something she'd been wondering about since the night Wendy left.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah sweetheart?"

"Is it because of me?"

"Is what because of you baby?"

"Did Wendy not want to marry you anymore because of me?" She asked him, concerned.

Tony sighed. Although he thought that there was a chance that she was a small part of the reason Wendy had left he couldn't tell her that. "I don't think so Maddy. And besides, if that was the reason she left then she's certainly not the woman I want to be with. Any woman that doesn't love you doesn't deserve to be with me. You're the most important thing to me, no matter what, okay?"

"Okay daddy."

The two of them spent the morning looking at a bunch of different apartments and they hadn't found the right one yet. They decided to take a break and have some lunch. Tony had told Gibbs about his search for a new place closer to work and had requested that Gibbs meet them for lunch that Saturday.

Tony got him and Maddy hot dogs and they met Gibbs in the park. He was sitting at a picnic table with a coffee in hand, wearing a US Marine corps hoodie.

"Hey boss. Maddy, this is daddy's boss, Special Agent Gibbs. Gibbs, this is my daughter Maddy."

"Hi Maddy, you can just call me Gibbs."

"Hi Gibbs."

"So have you found an apartment yet?" Gibbs asked both of them as they ate.

"Haven't really seen any we liked yet have we sweetheart?" Tony asked Maddy.

"Nope."

"We've got a few more to see this afternoon though. There's one in a fairly small building that has its own park right behind it. I like the sounds of having a place where Maddy can play outside. It's near a good school too, so hopefully we like that one."

Gibbs could tell that there was more on Tony's mind that he wanted to talk about. "Hey Maddy, why don't you go get yourself an ice cream over there?" Gibbs handed her a few dollars and pointed to the ice cream stand.

Maddy looked at her dad to see if it was okay and he nodded his head. She smiled and said thank you and ran off.

"Something else on your mind DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked him as he studied Tony's pensive look.

"I'm just worried about her," Tony told him as he watched his daughter run towards the ice cream stand.

"She seems alright Tony. Kids are tougher than you think."

"I know, but she's just been through so much. It was hard on her to see me so upset about Wendy you know. She asked me on the way here if it was her fault that Wendy left me."

"That's what I love about kids," Gibbs told Tony, "they always say what they're thinking and what they observe. But what do you think Tony?"

"I think that maybe the fact that I already have a kid is part of the reason she called it off. But if she can't handle the fact that I've got Maddy then I don't want to be with her anyways."

"That's a good attitude."

Tony and Maddy spent the afternoon looking at more apartments, and finally, on their last one they found the perfect place. It was a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor of a small building in one of the best parts of northwest Washington DC. The building had a park with lots of grass and trees behind it. It was only fifteen minutes from the Navy Yard and ten minutes from a great school for Maddy. There were plenty of food places and stores around. The apartment itself had a great big living room, a dining room and a big kitchen with an island in the middle, as well as two decent sized bedrooms on opposite ends of the apartment (something that Tony thought would be good as Maddy got older). It had hardwood and tile floors, a beautiful fireplace and high-end everything. This would definitely be a big step up from their place now.

"You like this one Maddy-bear?" Tony asked his daughter as they stood in the living room looking out the windows at the park behind. Maddy nodded her head and smiled; she definitely liked this place.

Tony knew this was the one. He could see them living here; he could see Maddy growing up in this neighborhood and going to the nearby school they'd already checked out. He was excited to move here and to move on from Wendy. He wanted to forget about that time in his life and have a fresh start here with his daughter.

"We'll take it," he told the realtor with a smile. It was his first real smile since Wendy left. He turned to look down at Maddy who was still standing right beside him. She was smiling too and he knew that they'd be okay. No matter what they had each other.


	8. Chapter 8 - 2003

**Chapter 8 – October 2003**

Tony and Maddy had been living in their new apartment in DC for just over a year now. They moved in in the summer of 2002 so that Maddy could start 3rd grade at her new school; a school that she'd hopefully attend until graduation to middle school. It was frustrating at first for Maddy to have to start all over making friends in a new school for the third time but she was always a popular likeable girl and it wasn't long before she had a whole new group of friends.

Tony was very grateful for the much shorter commute to work since the move. This way he was able to get home to Maddy much sooner. Maddy's aunt Laura had moved to DC around the same time as they did to teach high school. She was currently living in an apartment only ten minutes from the DiNozzo's and the school she taught at was in the same area as Maddy's school.

Instead of hiring a baby-sitter for Maddy for after school or sending her to a day care Laura offered to pick her up and look after her after school until Tony got off work. This allowed Maddy and Laura to spend much needed time together and saved Tony the hassle and money of hiring a sitter. Maddy had adopted the spare room in Laura's apartment as her own sort of second bedroom where she stayed when Tony had to work overnight. All in all things were working out quite well for the family.

Tony walked into the office to in the morning to find that his new teammate, Special Agent Kate Todd was already there and sitting at her desk. She'd been working with them for a couple weeks now after quitting her job at the Secret Service when NCIS worked a case on Air Force One.

"Good-morning Kate, you're here bright and early. Nothing better to do in the morning?"

"Better things than you probably DiNozzo, I'm sure there was a woman you had to kick out of your bed this morning," Kate remarked.

Tony just laughed, dropped his bag behind his desk and took his seat. He kept up the player version of himself at work, flirting with every attractive woman that he met while working, making it seem as though he hooked up with a lot more women than he actually did. Being a single father made it very difficult to go on many dates and even harder to spend the night with a woman. However, now that Maddy's aunt lived near them he was able to send Maddy to her place for the occasional night so that he could go out and have some adult fun. He'd take a girl out and end up back at her place. He'd never brought a woman back to his apartment for sex, preferring to keep his and his daughter's personal space separate from that. It also took him a while to start going on dates again after things ended with Wendy.

Of course, Gibbs saw right through his flirty, play boy image knowing that he had a daughter to go home to. It was then that he walked into the bullpen and laughed at Kate's comment knowingly making eye contact with Tony.

"Am I missing something here?" She asked, looking from Tony to Gibbs, having sensed a silent communication going on between the two.

"Well…" Tony started to explain but was cut off by Gibbs telling them they had a case. Kate had only been working with them a short time and had yet to learn about Tony's daughter. Tony noticed Kate was getting frustrated realizing that there was something both him and Gibbs knew that she didn't. Maybe he wouldn't tell Kate about Maddy right now and let her try to figure it out first.

After spending most of the day working a crime scene nearby they returned to the office. They had figured out that the case was a suicide, which meant it would easily be wrapped up by the end of their shift. Tony and Kate were at their desks writing up the report before they could leave when Tony's cell rang.

"DiNozzo."

"Hi daddy."

"Hey Madeline." Kate looked up from her computer upon hearing Tony's side of the phone conversation.

"Are you going to be off early enough to take me to my hockey game?" Maddy asked. She had made the Washington competitive girls team this year and her first game was that night.

"I wouldn't miss it," Tony smiled. He noticed that Kate was watching and listening to his conversation so he tried to keep from giving anything away, wanting to mess with her.

"Okay good," Maddy replied to her dad, "I'm excited!"

"Me too sweetheart. I have to go now, but I'll see you at Laura's at 5:00," he promised his daughter and hung up the phone.

"Was that a date for tonight Tony?" Kate asked.

Tony just laughed and didn't say anything, knowing that would get under her skin. "Let me guess, Madeline's some hot young blonde you met at a bar?" She laughed, trying to make fun of Tony.

Tony opened his mouth to answer but Gibbs walked into the bullpen and beat him to it. "She's young alright. Not blonde thought, her hair's the same color as Tony's actually."

"Wait , you know this girl Gibbs?" Kate was surprised. Tony just chuckled realizing Gibbs had caught on to his game and was playing along.

"Enough questions Kate, finish that report so we can all go home," Gibbs told her. Kate huffed in frustration and went back to her computer screen. Tony looked back at her, smiling.

An hour later, Kate and Tony were printing off their reports and getting ready to leave for the evening. The elevator door dinged open and Gibbs looked over to see who it was. Laughing, he turned to Tony, "Hey Tony; Madeline's here."

Kate's head whipped around to see Laura and Maddy stepping off the elevator. Tony grabbed his bag and jacket and headed towards the elevator. "I thought you said she wasn't blonde Gibbs?" Kate questioned, referring to Laura.

Gibbs laughed. "You're looking at the wrong person Kate."

"Wait, Madeline's the little girl? Does Tony have a…" She was about to say daughter but Maddy answered that question for her.

"Dad!" Maddy shouted when she saw Tony coming towards them.

"Hey Maddy-bear!" He gave her a hug. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Sorry," Laura told him, "she was bouncing off the walls at my place excited about hockey. I thought I'd save you some time and just bring her here. We had dinner already and her equipment is in my car."

"Thanks Laura," he told her.

Maddy had walked into the bullpen to say hi to Gibbs while her dad talked to her aunt. "Hey Gibbs!"

"Hey kiddo! I hear you have a big game tonight."

"Yep! First game of the season!"

"You nervous?" Gibbs asked her.

"A little bit." She shrugged.

"Don't be nervous, I saw you play last season; you're a super-star," Gibbs told her as he ruffled her hair.

Maddy noticed Kate standing behind her desk with a look of shock on her face as she watched the interaction between the two.

"Um Gibbs, what's wrong with her?" Maddy asked him, gesturing to Kate.

Gibbs laughed, "I'm not sure Maddy, why don't you introduce yourself?"

Maddy walked over to the front of Kate's desk and stuck out her hand, "Hi, I'm Maddy DiNozzo."

Kate still in shock, reached for Maddy's hand, "I'm Kate Todd."

"Oh, you're the new girl! My dad told me about you."

Kate studied the girl. She had wavy hair the same colour as Tony's and the exact same green eyes as him.

"Come on Maddy, time to go," Tony called to her as he pressed the button for the elevator. Maddy ran off after her father, leaving Kate standing there stunned at what she'd just learned.

She turned back to Gibbs. "So, Tony has a daughter? Was that his girlfriend or something too?"

"Yeah he has a daughter. And that wasn't his girlfriend, Laura is Maddy's aunt," Gibbs informed her.

"So where is Maddy's mother?" Kate asked. She still couldn't believe that Tony had a kid.

"That's a touchy subject with them Kate. I'll let Tony explain that to you if he wants to," Gibbs told her. "I'll see you tomorrow." Gibbs turned off his desk light and headed for the elevator, leaving Kate at her desk, processing everything.

Meanwhile Tony was driving to Baltimore for Maddy's first hockey game on the traveling team. She was on a team that made up the best girls her age from West DC and there was also an East DC team. They played against teams from Maryland and Virginia.

Tony had put Maddy in the youth house league level in DC last year and, despite her small size, she dominated the league. So he'd let her try out for the traveling team this year and she made it. Tony was still reluctant on whether or not letting her play was the right decision. She was really tiny for her age and he was afraid she'd get hurt. The traveling team was also much more time consuming, required a bigger commitment and cost more money. At first he didn't know with work how he'd be able to get her to all her games and practices but Laura had offered to take her sometimes and Maddy also made some friends on the team whose parents offered to pick Maddy up and take her whenever he needed, which Tony was grateful for.

Maddy sat in the passenger seat of Tony's Tahoe on the drive to the arena. Tony had, to his disliking, bought the new SUV 6 months ago. He was always a car guy but with Maddy and hockey and the amount of driving he would be doing for that, the SUV was just more practical as well as safer. Maddy reached over and turned the radio to the new pop station, causing Tony to groan. When "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne came on Maddy turned the volume up really loud and sang along.

Tony laughed at Maddy as she belted the song out and danced in her seat. He even found himself singing along to the catchy chorus. When the song was over he turned the radio down a little. "Stick to hockey Maddy-bear, singing is not your forte," he teased her.

"I guess I get my awful singing voice from you dad," she teased him back.

"Hey! I'm not that bad," Tony challenged, causing her to laugh.

They arrived at the arena a few minutes later and Tony carried her bag inside for her; the damn thing was as big as her. He gave it to her outside the dressing room door because he wasn't allowed to go in, as it was a team of all girls. "Okay sweetheart, play hard like you can and you'll do amazing." Tony patted her head and pushed her towards the dressing room as he turned to go sit in the stands.

Maddy's team won the game 5-3 with Maddy scoring a goal and getting an assist. Tony was very proud of how she played her first game for her new team. She came out of the dressing room with a huge smile on her face, clearly very proud of herself. "Did you see it daddy? Did you see me goal?"

"I sure did baby; it was awesome! You played so good!" He praised her. "What do you say we go get an ice cream to celebrate your first game?"

"Okay!" Tony picked up her bag and they headed out to the car and to the ice cream shop before heading home.

The next day Tony was already at his desk when Kate walked in and sat down. He focused on his computer for a few minutes before looking up to find Kate staring at him.

"Can I help you with something Kate?"

"Sorry Tony, I just can't believe you have a daughter."

"And why is that Kate?"

"Come on Tony. All the talk about women and the flirting; not to mention you act like a big kid yourself. I just can't picture you being responsible for a child."

"I take offense to that Kate, there's a lot you don't know about me," Tony turned to a more serious tone. He turned his attention back to his computer. He knew he wasn't exactly the traditional image of a good dad but he was doing his best with Maddy and he loved her more than anything.

"Sorry Tony, I didn't mean to offend you. Maddy seems like a great kid; I'm sure you're doing a good job raising her. She looks just like you by the way." Kate wanted to ask about Maddy's mother but wasn't sure how the question would go over. She turned on her computer and got to work checking her emails and looking for any possibility of a case. Gibbs had yet to come down from MTAC.

After they sat in silence for about fifteen minutes Tony finally said something. "She died."

Kate looked up, checking to see if he was actually talking to her. "Pardon?"

"My daughter's mother; I know you're wondering about her. She passed away three and a half years ago. Cancer." He was staring off into space as he told her about Maddy's mother. This was a side of Tony that Kate had definitely not seen yet.

"Tony I'm sorry…"

"Her name was Alison. We weren't together. She had Maddy when I was in college and I didn't even know about her until she was five and Alison got sick. A few months later she died and left Maddy to me."

"Wow Tony, I didn't know. I'm really sorry I teased you about being a dad. It sounds like you're doing an excellent job given the circumstances." Kate felt terrible now for making fun of him. There was clearly a lot more to Tony then meets the eye.

"Yeah we're doing alright. Maddy's everything to me," Tony smiled and took a framed picture out of his backpack that he'd taken from home that morning and put it beside his computer on his desk. It was a picture Laura had taken a few months back of Tony giving Maddy a piggyback. They were both laughing and Laura had snuck a candid shot and had it printed in black and white and framed for him.

Kate watched the smile grow on Tony's face as he looked at the picture he put on his desk. This new side of Tony she was seeing made him seem like less of a pig and more like a decent human being. She kind of liked this version of Tony and she definitely wanted to see him with his daughter more.


	9. Chapter 9 - 2004

**Sorry this one took so long. I had a bunch of papers and midterms to do the last couple weeks. **

**Chapter 9 - 2004**

Tim McGee had been at the DC headquarters of NCIS for almost a month now, working on their computer system and helping out Special Agent Gibbs' team. He liked being in DC; it made him feel much more important than being in Norfolk, but Tony DiNozzo was driving him nuts. Tony had an endless supply of annoying nicknames for him and the jokes at his expense never seemed to end. He always had to get coffee for the team and was subject to many Tony and Kate pranks.

Today was no different. McGee walked into Abby's lab groaning.

"Hey McGee!" Abby exclaimed when he walked in.

"Hey Abbs," McGee replied solemnly.

"Why so glum McGee?" McGee held up his hand to reveal to Abby that his computer mouse was super glued to his hand.

Abby laughed, "Tony?" McGee nodded. "When are you going to learn McGee?" Abby kept laughing as she went to get the nail polish remover for him. McGee clearly did not find this funny.

"He's driving me crazy Abby. He's like an annoying kid."

Abby laughed. "Speaking of kids, have you met the little DiNozzo yet McGee?" She asked him as she applied a generous amount of nail polish remover and tried to work the mouse out of McGee's hand.

"Abby don't tell me DiNozzo has a kid?" He groaned again.

"Sure does! 9 year-old daughter named Maddy. She's like a little female replica of Tony – looks and personality."

"Great!" McGee said with sarcasm. "DiNozzo isn't married is he?" He wondered.

"No he's not," Abby replied and proceeded to tell McGee the whole story of how Tony ended up with Maddy.

"Wow Abby, that's kind of sad," he told her when she finished explaining the DiNozzo situation.

"Yeah, but they're doing alright. Tony really is a good Dad. Maddy practically worships the ground he walks on. I'm sure you'll meet her soon; she comes to NCIS after school sometimes."

The next day, Tony and Kate and McGee were working at their desks in the bullpen while Gibbs was up in MTAC.

"Tony? Hello… earth to DiNozzo…" Kate was trying to get Tony's attention from her desk. He seemed to be off in another world today. She resorted to crumpling up a piece of paper and tossing it at him, hitting him square in the forehead.

"Kate! What was that for?" He finally acknowledged her, looking up annoyed.

"You didn't answer my question, or even acknowledge that I asked you something."

"Oh, sorry Kate."

"What is going on with you? You've been distracted all morning."

Tony sighed. "Maddy wasn't feeling well this morning. She begged me not to make her go to school but I couldn't stay home with her and neither could her aunt and I didn't want to bring her here and stick her with Abby for an entire day so I made her go."

"And now you feel bad?"

"Yeah. She never gets sick and she rarely complains about anything. Plus she loves school. For her to ask me if she can stay home, she must really be sick."

"Tony I'm sure the school nurse would call you if she needed to go home."

"Yeah, yeah you're probably right," Tony sighed again.

"Okay, now can you please answer my question?"

Tony laughed. "Of course Kate, ask away."

Later on that afternoon Tony's desk phone rang. It was security at the entrance to the Navy Yard to tell him that Maddy was there. She had an NCIS photo ID that identified her as a frequent visitor so that she could get into the Navy Yard without Tony having to sign her in every time. However they still preferred that she wasn't wandering around alone. Sometimes someone brought her right to the NCIS building for him and sometimes Tony went to get her.

"I can bring her up for you if you'd like Agent DiNozzo," the security guy on the phone told him.

"Okay thanks." Tony hung up the phone. A few minutes later the elevator doors opened and Maddy stepped off. The security guy, Adam, if Tony remembered correctly poked his head out and gave Tony a wave. Tony smiled and mouthed a 'thanks' and Adam went back downstairs.

Maddy made her way slowly over to her dad's desk. She wasn't feeling well and she was upset that her dad forced her to go to school. "There's my girl," Tony said, happy to see his daughter.

Maddy didn't say anything, just pouted at her dad as she put her backpack on the floor beside his desk and took her jacket off.

"McGee, this is my daughter Maddy," Tony turned and introduced Maddy, realizing they had yet to meet.

"Hey Maddy, how are you?" McGee asked.

"Okay," she shrugged.

"Jeeze Maddy, what's gotten into you?" Tony asked his daughter, "You're never shy."

"Don't feel good," she replied, pouting at him again as she stood beside his desk chair. She was a perfect height so that her and Tony were eye to eye when he was sitting.

Tony reached out and felt her forehead. "Hmm, you feel a little warm sweetheart. I've got a few more hours of work to do yet. Why don't you go down and lay down on the futon in Abby's lab?" He suggested.

Maddy shook her head. "I wanna stay with you," she whined and threw her arms around Tony's neck.

Tony could sense that she was about to cry and wanting to avoid a scene in the middle of the office he reluctantly agreed. "Fine, you can stay up here for a little bit," he told her as he pulled her onto his lap. Or until Gibbs yells at me, he thought. Maddy snuggled into him and put her head in the crook of his neck, leaving him one free arm to work with. "You're a big suck today," Tony told his daughter, chuckling as he kissed her head before going back to what he was doing on his computer screen.

Kate was smiling at Tony from behind her computer. Tony wasn't sure if it was an 'Awe that's adorable' smile or a 'Haha Gibbs is going to kill you when he sees this' smile. He gave her a shrug. Maddy was a daddy's girl but had never been such a big suck like this. Whenever she was at NCIS she spent her time with Abby in her lab or the evidence garage. For her to want to stay in her dad's boring office area was very rare.

Gibbs came down from a meeting with the director a little while later and Tony immediately started sputtering out an explanation as to why Maddy was there and preventing him from getting much work done, but to his surprise Gibbs wasn't mad.

"Take her home DiNozzo, McGee can cover for you for the rest of the day."

"Really? Thank you boss."

"Feel better Maddy," Gibbs told her.

"Alright, come on Maddy-bear, let's go home and make you some soup," Tony put his bag on his back, grabbed Maddy's backpack with one hand and guided Maddy towards the elevator with his other hand.

When they got home Tony managed to get her to eat a half a bowl of soup before she fell asleep on the couch watching a movie. Tony took that opportunity to clean up the apartment a bit and do some laundry that had been piling up. When she woke up again he took her temperature, gave her some Tylenol and got her into bed.

When Tony tried to leave her room to let her sleep she wouldn't have any of it. "Daddy stay with me," she whined.

"Baby you need to rest so you can get better," Tony tried.

"Back rub?" She asked with puppy dog eyes.

There was no way he could say no to that. "Okay, I'll stay and give you a back rub until you fall asleep," he sighed. Tony sat up beside Maddy in her bed and rubbed slow circles on her back to help her fall asleep. Soon they were both asleep.

Tony was startled awake by the horrible sound of Maddy coughing. Tony realized he was in her room and when he rolled over she wasn't beside him. It took him a second to realize the sound was coming from the kitchen. Tony looked at the clock on her wall; 3am. He groaned as he got out of the bed and went to find his daughter. When he reached the kitchen he found her sitting on the floor, coughing and clutching her chest.

"Daddy, it hurts," she told him while she tried to catch her breath.

"Your chest hurts baby?"

"Yeah, it hurts when I try and take a deep breath and then I start coughing." She was afraid.

Tony felt her forehead and it was very warm so he grabbed the thermometer. Her breathing was shallow, wheezy and quick, her heart was beating rapidly and she was shaking. Tony was starting to really worry as he picked her up and carried her to the living room. Putting her down on the couch, he covered her in a blanket.

"Sweetie what were you doing out of bed?" He asked her, as he sat on the edge of the couch beside her.

"Wanted water," she wheezed out.

"Okay, I'll get it for you, stay right here." Tony went in the kitchen to get a cup of water. Her temperature was 103 now and he was starting to think this was more than just a cold. He decided to call Ducky, even though it was the middle of the night.

The phone rang 5 or 6 times before Ducky answered in a groggy voice; he'd obviously woken him up. "Ducky! It's Tony. I know it's late but Maddy's really sick; she's got a fever of 103, she's coughing, her breathing and pulse are very rapid and she said her chest hurts," Tony rambled off quickly, in his worried father voice.

"Anthony I'd say that sounds like pneumonia but I'd suggest taking her to the hospital to see a doctor just in case. They'll do a chest X-ray and make sure that's what it is and probably give her some antibiotics."

"Okay, thanks Ducky." Tony hung up the phone and went back into the living room.

"I think we should go get you checked out by a doctor Maddy-bear," Tony told her as he felt her forehead again.

He was still dressed in sweatpants from when he fell asleep in her bed before so he just grabbed her a sweatshirt from her room and they were on their way to the hospital.

The doctor ordered a chest X-ray as Ducky said he would and the nurse was trying to put Maddy on an IV because she was extremely dehydrated. Maddy didn't want anything to do with the needle the nurse was trying to stick in her arm as she laid in a bed in the emergency room.

"Daddy I don't want the needle."

"Baby it's okay, the needle will make you feel so much better. Just hold my hand," he told her as he reached his hand down to her level in the bed. Maddy trusted her dad so she held his hand and let the nurse put the IV in.

The doctor returned a while later with results from the scans. Ducky was right, she had bacterial pneumonia. He prescribed antibiotics and some over the counter cold medications to help keep the fever down and help her sleep. He told Tony it was very important to keep her hydrated or she'd end up back in the hospital. By the time they left the hospital it was 7 am. Tony stopped at the store on the way home to pick up the medicine and some Gatorade. When they finally got home they were both exhausted and decided to have a nap because it was thankfully Saturday.

After a few days of rest and a lot of movies watched the antibiotics started working and Maddy started to feel better. They were told that it would be a couple weeks before she felt 100% again but at least she was more herself. Tony was extremely relieved to see her getting back to her normal happy self. She'd given him quite the scare with the chest pain and shortness of breath.

NCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS NCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS NCISNCISNCIS

One Month Later

McGee took the elevator down to Abby's lab at the end of his first shift as a full time NCIS field agent in D.C. He had been promoted the day before and was now officially part of Gibss' team. Kate and Tony had already left for the day, or so he thought, and Abby had asked him to come down and see her before he left.

When he walked into the lab not only Abby was there, but Kate, Tony and Tony's daughter Maddy as well. They were all standing around a table in front of a banner that read "Congratulations McGee" and there was a cake on the table that had the same thing written on it in sloppy icing.

"Hey!" McGee smiled, "what's this all about?"

"McGee!" Abby yelled, and ran over to give him a hug. "You're part of the team now! Congratulations!"

Kate also told him congratulations and welcome to the team. Tony walked over to McGee and gave him a friendly pat on the back. "We wanted to give you a real NCIS welcome," he told him.

"I made you the cake McGee," Maddy told him, with a smile and a knowing sideways glance at her dad.

"Why don't you do the honors of cutting the cake McGee," Tony told him as he handed him a knife.

"Well thanks Maddy, I'd love to," McGee replied. He was enjoying this warm welcome the team was giving him. He truly wasn't expecting it.

McGee walked over to the table and just before he pushed the knife into the cake Maddy and Tony both backed away from the table a significant distance and held in a laugh. When the knife hit the cake there was a loud bang and icing flew everywhere, covering McGee's face, arms and chest and also covering Kate and Abby who had not backed away from the table. Tony and Maddy burst out laughing at the success of their prank and the reactions they got from each of the others.

Abby jumped, shocked at first and then starting laughing, wiping icing off her face with her finger and licking it off. "Yum!"

Kate was still standing there with her mouth open, staring down at her white shirt that was now covered in chocolate icing.

McGee's reaction was similar to Kate's. He was still trying to figure out what had even happened and why the cake had exploded. He looked down to find that the cake was not even a cake at all but a cardboard box with a balloon in it that had then been covered in icing to make it look like a homemade chocolate cake.

McGee and Kate both simultaneously looked at each other and then turned to see Tony and Maddy both rolling around on the floor laughing uncontrollably. "Did you see the look on McGee's face?" Maddy choked out between laughs.

"I did! They're covered in it! It worked perfectly," Tony laughed along with her and stuck his hand out to his daughter for a hi-five.

"DiNozzos!" Kate yelled, flicking some of the icing off her shirt.

"Dad, I don't think she thinks it's funny," Maddy laughed.

Kate turned to McGee and said, "come on McGee, let's get them. You guys are so dead!" McGee and Kate started towards to two.

"Oh, come on guys, it's funny! You gotta admit it was clever," Abby told McGee and Kate. They ignored Abby and lunged at Maddy and Tony.

"Run!" Tony yelled at his daughter and they took off out the door and towards the stairs that led up to the front door of the building. They stopped when they heard the elevator ding and saw Gibbs get off.

McGee and Kate ran after them but unfortunately ran smack into Gibbs when he got out of the elevator, effectively covering him in chocolate icing as well. Gibbs didn't say anything, just looked at himself and then looked up to give McGee an evil glare.

"Boss, I'm so sorry, Tony and Maddy pulled a prank on us, I didn't mean to run into you," McGee rambled an apology.

The fact that his boss was now covered in icing as well scared Tony. He wasn't sure how Gibbs would take this prank. Maddy on the other hand wasn't afraid of Gibbs like him and thought it was hilarious. She was now laughing hysterically again as her and Tony stood in the door of the stairwell.

"Don't apologize McGee," Gibbs told him. "And you two," he said, turning around to face Tony and Maddy, "had better watch your backs," he told him, with a small hint of a smile. Maddy stopped laughing and turned to look at her dad before they both took off up the stairs and out to Tony's car.

"Ughhh, I have icing everywhere," Kate whined as she tried to clean herself off.

"Don't worry Kate," Gibbs told her, "We'll get them back." Normally Tony's childish pranks just pissed him off but seeing the smile it put on Maddy's face and hearing how much it made her laugh softened him up a little bit and he decided not to be mad just this once.

**Next chapter is going to be SWAK. **


	10. Chapter 10 - 2005

**Note: I wrote last chapter that Maddy was 9 but she actually was supposed to be 10. She is 11 now and in 5****th**** grade. **

**Chapter 10 – 2005**

When Tony DiNozzo arrived at work in the morning he was not expecting his day to take the path it had. Him and Kate had gotten off the elevator, him teasing her as usual and walked into the bullpen to find McGee already there, distributing their mail. When Tony opened the letter with the lipstick lip marks on it, addressed to NCIS Special Agent, it did not even cross his mind that the letter could contain a deadly pathogen. If he'd only stopped to think before tearing it open and blowing into it then maybe he wouldn't be lying in a hospital bed inside an isolation room ill with the plague. He desperately wished that the morning could've played out differently. If it had maybe his terrified eleven-year-old daughter wouldn't be watching him cough and struggle to breathe through a glass window.

Earlier that day…

After Tony opened the letter the team showered and headed to autopsy where Ducky drew blood from each of them and Tony waited for the people from the hospital to come get him. When they got there they decided to bring Kate to the hospital too since she had a cold.

"How long are we going to have to stay in isolation?" Kate asked, annoyed.

"At least over night," the man told her.

"Do you have double beds, cause I hate it when you get that crease when you push the two…" Tony joked, earning himself a head slap from Gibbs. "If I get anthrax, how will you feel?"

"Not as bad as you DiNozzo."

"Alright, let's go," the guy told them, and Tony and Kate started following him out of autopsy.

Tony stopped when he remembered that Laura was out of town and so someone would have to look after Maddy for him while he spent the night in the hospital.

"Boss, Maddy… Her aunt's out of town, she's supposed to come here after school, somebody has to take her tonight," Tony told Gibbs, slightly concerned.

"Don't worry DiNozzo, we got her, now get going," Gibbs told him.

"Thanks boss."

A few hours later Kate and Tony were lying in their respective beds in the hospital with Tony asking Kate about the blue lights they were under. Kate sensed that Tony was trying to keep his mind distracted from thinking about the possibility that he could be sick.

"You're afraid aren't you?"

"Kate come on, me afraid? Have you ever seen me afraid?"

"Not when the danger is something we can confront. But all we can do here, is lie around and hope that we're not infected."

"Now who's afraid," Tony commented.

"Anyone with half a brain." Kate laughed, "I take that back, you're not afraid."

Truthfully Kate was right, he was afraid. This time there was nothing he could do to change that. There was nobody he could shoot or arrest to change the circumstances. He could do nothing to alter the outcome of his mistake. He also worried about Maddy and what she would have to go through if he was sick. She'd already been through so many traumas in her life. The poor girl didn't deserve to have to go through her father getting sick, after watching her mother battle cancer. He tried to shake off those thoughts and focus on something less depressing. He didn't even know if he was sick yet, he shouldn't be worrying about these things yet.

"I'm worried about Maddy," Tony spoke up after a few minutes of silence.

"Why's that DiNozzo?" Kate asked.

"She's gonna have to spend the night with Gibbs or McGee… I'm not sure which is worse actually," Tony pondered.

Kate laughed. "She's not an infant Tony, I'm sure both Gibbs and McGee could handle an eleven year old for a night; especially your kid Tony, she's pretty easy going."

"Yeah, she's different at night though. She's still pretty attached to me and to her own stuff. Not a big fan of sleepovers, except at her aunt's. She's used to having to stay at Laura's now. "

"That surprises me. She doesn't seem like that at all whenever I see her."

"That's my girl, full of surprises," Tony smiled. "Well as long as McGee doesn't turn her into a computer geek I'll be happy," he laughed.

Meanwhile in Abby's lab, Ducky was informing Gibbs of the results of the blood tests. "Gibbs all the blood tests came back negative except…"

"Tony's," Gibbs guessed, as he pulled off his suit helmet. "He sick yet?"

"Well not outwardly but the doctor says his temperature is elevated. The Y pestis is attacking his pulmonary system. Tony will begin coughing soon. When his sputum becomes bloody he'll only have a few hours to live."

"Abby get that letter out of there!" Gibbs yelled. "Ducky Maddy's school bus should be here soon, I need you to take her to the hospital."

"Are you sure that's a good idea Gibbs?" Ducky worried about the impact it would have on the young girl to see her father in the state he'd be in.

"Just do it Duck."

Maddy DiNozzo got off her bus at the entrance to NCIS to find Ducky standing outside his old car waiting for her.

"Ducky, what's going on?" She was old enough now to go up to the office on her own. She knew Ducky being there to meet her couldn't be a good thing.

"Hello Madeline. Come on with me, we're going to the hospital," he did not want to be the one to have to tell Tony's daughter that he was dying from the plague.

"The hospital? Why? What happened to my dad? Is he okay?" She was shouting all her questions in confusion.

"He's very sick Maddy. We should go see him."

"Sick like how Ducky? He wasn't sick this morning. I don't understand. He's gonna be okay though right?" Tears were forming in her eyes. She could tell by the way Ducky was avoiding looking her in the eye that it was bad. He didn't want to tell her everything. When they arrived at the hospital Maddy silently followed Ducky to where her dad was. She was not expecting to find him inside of an isolation room when they walked through the door.

"Daddy!" She shouted as she made her way to the glass walls. Her dad was sweating and breathing rapidly and had blue lips. There was a nurse and a doctor fussing over him and there was a blue light over top of him. He didn't look very good and it scared her. She started crying. Tony heard his daughter call to him and he turned his head to see her pressed against the glass watching him, terrified. He wanted so desperately to hug her and tell her everything would be fine.

By this point he was short of breath and coughing up blood. Kate had refused to leave the isolation room when the nurse told her that she wasn't infected, insisting that she stay with Tony. But when she saw Ducky walk in with Maddy she knew she was needed outside the glass walls. Maddy shouldn't have to see Tony like this but if Tony was dying they deserved the chance to say goodbye.

"Kate!" Maddy looked at her with pleading eyes, "what's wrong with him? I wanna go in there."

"I'm sorry Maddy you can't go in there or you could get sick too. He's pretty sick and it's contagious."

"Kate don't baby me, just tell me," Maddy begged, getting mad.

"Okay. He has the plague Maddy. They don't know if he's gonna make it," Kate admitted as she started to cry as well.

"Plague?! I don't understand. How did he get that?! Nobody gets the plague now! That disease is from a long time ago!"

Kate didn't know what to say. Truthfully she wanted answers just as much as Maddy did right now. Ducky stepped in to help her understand. "Maddy somebody used it as a bio-weapon. Your dad was just the unlucky one who opened it."

Maddy looked from Ducky to Kate and then back to her dad, who was now sitting up with the help of a nurse, coughing violently. His nose had started to turn black and he looked brutal. It was all too much for Maddy; she ran into the hallway and collapsed against the wall crying. Her dad was dying. She lost her mom to cancer and now she was going to lose her dad to the plague; a stupid disease that hasn't been around since the 1300's.

Kate followed Maddy into the hallway and sat down on the floor beside her, pulling the girl into a hug. "He can't die Kate, he can't," Maddy sobbed into Kate's arms. "I need him."

Just then Gibbs walked past them and straight into the isolation room. Dr. Pitt tried to stop him. "Woah woah woah, who the hell are you?"

"His boss. Bug had a suicide chain, it's dead. Been dead for over an hour. He's no longer infectious." Gibbs walked over and crouched down next to Tony. "Tony listen to me, you will not die, you got that?"

Tony didn't respond so Gibbs gave him a smack on the forehead. "I said you will not die."

"I got you boss," Tony choked out.

"Good. Cause you got a little girl out there that's terrified she's losing her dad. You stay strong for her."

"I will boss," he choked out again. Gibbs put Tony's new cell phone in his hand and left the room to get Maddy.

Gibbs went out in the hall and crouched down to Maddy who was still in Kate's embrace. "Maddy," he whispered. She looked up from Kate's arms with tear stained cheeks. "You listen to me; your dad's not going to die. We're not going to let that happen."

"How do you know that? He has plague Gibbs," she cried again.

"I know kiddo. But the bug is dead now, so it's just up to your dad to fight to get better. It can't do any more damage now. He's not gonna die. He's got you to worry about. Trust me, he will get better. Okay?"

Maddy nodded.

"Good. Now come on, let's go see him," Gibbs told her as he helped Maddy up with one hand and Kate with the other.

"I'm afraid Gibbs," Maddy admitted.

"I know he looks bad Maddy but you gotta be brave for him. I think it'll really help him if you go and hold his hand. Can you do that for him kiddo?" Maddy nodded. "Okay good," Gibbs smiled and ruffled her hair before leading her into the room.

Maddy took slow timid steps towards the bed where Tony was struggling to even out his breathing. "Daddy," she whispered, as she put her small hand in his and gave a squeeze. Tears started to form in her eyes again at the sight of him up close.

Tony squeezed her hand back. "Hey, don't worry…sweetheart…I'm gonna be okay…" Tony slowly choked out as he turned his head so he could see her face.

Maddy nodded her head, trying to stop the tears. She stood there holding his hand for a half hour, just needing to make sure he didn't stop breathing. Kate had since come into the room and was sitting on the bed beside them watching their interaction and making sure Maddy was alright. She knew it must be hard for Maddy to see him that way and to listen to him choking, coughing and struggling to breath normally.

"Hey Maddy," Kate finally spoke. "Why don't you and I got get something to eat and let your dad sleep for a little while?" She suggested.

Maddy didn't answer but instead looked at her dad to see his reaction. Tony nodded his head for her to go with Kate. He was still so worried about how seeing him like this was affecting her and thought a break would be a good idea.

"Okay. I'll be back soon dad. I love you," she told him and gave his hand a solid squeeze before following Kate out of the room.

Kate was still wearing the pyjamas the hospital had given her as she didn't have any extra clothes, so they just went down to the hospital cafeteria and had a sandwich and a hot chocolate. They ate in silence and when they were finished Kate suggested they go for a walk around outside the hospital to get some fresh air. Maddy simply shrugged so Kate took it as a yes. It was springtime so it was warm enough outside for a little walk. They walked around in silence for a while outside, both grateful for the fresh air. Both of their thoughts were on Tony, praying that he'd pull through this mess. By the time they headed back inside to the hospital room it was starting to get dark out.

Maddy headed straight back to her dad's bedside but noticed he was sleeping so she decided she shouldn't wake him up. She opted for lying in the bed next to his and facing towards him instead. He already seemed to be doing better. His breathing had evened out to a more normal pace and he didn't seem to be in so much pain; a fact that was comforting to Maddy. She watched him for a few minutes to make sure nothing changed and then closed her eyes, exhausted from the stress of the day.

Kate stayed outside the room to talk to Dr. Pitt for a minute. "Can we sleep here?" She asked. "I don't wanna make Maddy leave him right now."

"As long as you don't give Tony that cold," he told her.

The nurse waited for Kate to get settled in the bed on the other side of Maddy before shutting all the lights off so they could all get some rest. It was silent for a minute before Tony spoke in a quiet but much healthier sounding voice than he had earlier.

"This reminds me of the end of Alien."

Kate and Maddy both smiled and gave a soft relieved laugh. A movie reference was a good way to reassure the two girls, who knew him so well, that he was going to be just fine.

**NCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS NCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS NCISNCISNCIS**

Tony spent an extra night in the hospital so that the doctor could monitor his lung function and ensure he wasn't exposed to any viruses that could worsen his condition. Since Maddy's aunt Laura was still out of town Kate had offered to spend the night at Tony's place looking after Maddy.

Maddy warmed up to Kate rather quickly that night when Kate made them a homemade chicken alfredo for dinner with blueberry muffins for dessert. They sat at the dinner table long after they were finished eating just talking. Maddy opened up to Kate a lot, telling her all about school, her friends, hockey and soccer and more personal things like her relationship with her dad and her aunt and even some things she remembered about her mom, who Kate never got to meet.

"Thanks for dinner Kate, it was really good," Maddy told her when they finally got up from the table to start doing the dishes. "Dad doesn't really cook much," she admitted.

"Yeah I figured that when I saw how empty your fridge is," Kate laughed. "What do you say I teach you how to make a few things and you can surprise him this week while he's off from work recovering?"

"Really? You would teach me to cook?"

"Sure! Somebody has to teach one of you two how to cook some healthy meals and I doubt your dad will be too willing to learn."

"Yeah we eat a lot of take out and prepared meals that he just has to put in the oven or the microwave."

"Well it's Friday, why don't we go to the grocery store and get a few things then?"

"Ok!" Maddy replied excitedly. Her aunt Laura cooked decent food for her sometimes but she'd never actually offered to show her how to cook so she could do it herself at home. She always said she was too young to be cooking still.

4 hours and a lot of messes later Maddy had learned how to make various kinds of eggs, tomato and ham grilled cheese, a couple different salads, spaghetti and even two different casseroles. She was definitely going to be able to surprise her dad this week when he came home.

Kate gave Maddy her cell phone number too in case she had any questions about cooking or in case she ever needed to talk. The two definitely bonded over cooking that night. Kate promised to show her how to cook even more meals sometime and Maddy was very excited.

On Saturday afternoon Kate went to the hospital to get Tony while Maddy stayed home and made a Taco casserole. When Tony walked in the door with Kate he was met with the aroma of Mexican food.

"Did you cook?" He asked Kate.

Kate smiled. "Not me."

Tony was confused, if Kate didn't cook then who did. Maddy walked out of the kitchen with oven mitts on her hands. "Hey daddy!"

"You're cooking?!" Tony decided he needed to sit down. He was in the hospital for 2 days and while he was gone his eleven-year-old somehow learned to cook.

"Yup! Taco casserole," she told him proudly.

"Maybe I'm sicker than I thought, am I in the right apartment?" Tony looked around dramatically, joking around with his daughter.

"Dad!" She wasn't falling for that. "Kate taught me some stuff about cooking last night. I made a whole bunch of things."

"She did, did she?" Tony turned to look at Kate.

"Tony you two eat way too much take-out," she made her point by gesturing at the stack of take-out menus on the coffee table, causing them all to laugh. "Alright, well Tony if you're good, I gotta go."

"Got a date Kate?" Tony teased.

"Wouldn't tell you if I did DiNozzo." It was nice to hear Tony teasing her, even if it was annoying, at least he was getting back to his regular self.

Tony went to stand up to get the door for Kate but she told him to stay on the couch, she could let herself out.

"Hey Kate, thanks for watching her for me, and for bringing me home, and for teaching her to cook apparently," Tony laughed. "Just thanks for everything," he smiled.

"Your welcome Tony. Maddy and I had a good time. Now you get some rest," she told him as she walked out the apartment door.

Tony smiled. They were like a brother and sister with their bickering and teasing most of the time but they would also be there for one another if they were needed. It was nice to have Kate in their life.


End file.
